Of Fairies and Skeletons
by Shadowed-Shikyo
Summary: Reina never expected Natsu to ask her to make a team with him and the newcomer, Lucy. Now that she agreed, she's happy. She's tired of being alone but can she truly open up to them? OCx...? NatsuxLucy (As of 5/15/13 the first six chapters have been edited and revamped.)
1. Harujion: The Fishing Port

**As of 5/13/13 this chapter has been edited. There wasn't much change to this chapter except grammatical and some word changes.**

**Enjoy!**

-x-

It was a regular, ordinary morning in the fishing port of Harujion. The sun was beginning to shine over the bay where the fishermen were out in the sea, already fishing for the day's catch while some boats were already heading back to shore to clean the fish they had caught and sell them in the market later in the day.

A sharp whistle reverberated through the air, signaling the arrival of the morning train. One of the conductors of the train walked through the aisle reminding people to make sure they had all of their belongings. When he had reached the very back where there were no seats he came across a peculiar sight. "U-um, sir? A-are you okay?" He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his neck as he nervously looked at the sight in front of him.

The peculiar sight was a young boy, most likely around the age of seventeen, collapsed against the wall of the train. He had messy pink hair and a white scarf that had a pattern of uneven squares—it almost gave off the illusion of scales—was wrapped around his neck.

But what baffled the conductor the most was that the boy looked absolutely sick.

"Aye, this happens all the time." The cat next to the boy spoke up. Unlike normal cats, this cat was standing on two legs with a small green sack tied around his neck. Besides the white tip of his tail and belly, his fur was blue.

"I can't handle it… I will never ever ride a train again." The boy shuddered as he tried to stand up but ended up draping himself over the railing of the window and emptied his stomach's contents.

"You say that, but you know you'll be in another vehicle sooner or later." Behind the boy a girl was walking up to them; she stopped and looked at him for a moment but then she walked past him. "If the info we got was correct, then Salamander should be in this town. The faster you get off the train, the sooner you'll feel better." Both she and the cat had ventured outside the door of the train and took in their surroundings.

Distantly they heard the boy mutter, "let me rest for awhile."

"Okay." The cat said as they both turned in time to hear the train give out another whistle and see their companion being carried away by the now moving train.

"SAVE ME!" He screamed as the train got farther and farther away.

The girl closed her eyes and sighed while the cat just stared at the distant train, "it departed." The cat said finally.

"I know Happy." She said and then she ran a hand through her short, dark silver hair. "Why don't you wait for the train to come back with Natsu while I go ask around for Salamander?"

"Aye!" Happy the Cat exclaimed as the girl walked away from the train station, "we'll meet up with you later Reina!" Reina merely lifted her hand up in a farewell gesture as she walked out of the station and into Harujion.

-x-

"WHAT? This is the only magic store in town?" A blonde haired girl cried out as she slammed her hands down onto the glass counter. A part of her blonde hair was haphazardly tied into a ponytail on the right side. She narrowed her brown eyes as she eyed the old man skeptically, as if hoping that the words he spoke weren't true.

"It's true; this town is more prosperous in fishing than in magic. Less than ten percent of the town can actually use magic, so the store mainly targets traveling mages." The store owner informed her.

She placed her hands on the blue skirt she was wearing and sighed, "I think I've wasted my time."

"Please don't say that and have a look around." The man implored, "We have some new items." He held up a simple little card, "girls love this 'color magic'. Depending on your mood every day…" in an instant his white shirt changed to navy blue, "you can change the colors of your clothes!"

"I already have it." The girl told him as she examined a canister. She set it down and turned to a display case, "I'm looking for the keys of the gates; strong ones, in fact."

"You want Keys of the Gates? They're pretty uncommon here." The man said.

As the blonde peered into the case, her face immediately lit up. "White Doggy!" She exclaimed.

"That's not powerful at all." The man interjected.

"So what? I've been looking for it." She returned to the counter. "How much?"

"Twenty thousand jewels."

"Hmm… I wonder how much it is."

"I said twenty thousand."

"I wonder how much it really is…" She leaned over the counter, her chest pressed against the glass; the zipper of her white shirt with blue trims had gone down half an inch revealing her cleavage, it was then noticeable that she was very well endowed. A blush colored her cheeks, "…Dandy mister?"

-x-

As Reina approached the magic shop, a blonde girl came stomping out. She nearly knocked into Reina who nearly stumbled but kept her balance and then paused in the doorway as she heard the girl's frustrated scream down the road: "Is my sex appeal only worth a thousand jewels?"

_How odd._ Reina thought as she walked towards the man standing behind the counter.

"Welcome!" He said cheerfully as she came closer. But she could see him eying her; she knew she was dressed differently than most people. Well, her color choice was different. In addition to her sandals, she was wearing black pants along with a gray and white tank top. Not the most logical choice for a sunny fishing town but she didn't really care.

"Hi. Can I ask you something?" She stopped at the counter.

He stopped surveying her and snapped into business. "Of course. Are you looking for a specific type of magic?" He asked.

"No, I'm looking for someone. Has anyone come to this town by the name of Salamander?" Her gray eyes surveyed the items on the counter before resting on the man again.

Thoughtfully, the man stroked his chin, "I think I heard something… Salamander… Is he the mage who uses the rare fire-type magic that you can't buy in stores, correct?"

_There is a lot of magic in Fiore_ (1)_ that can't be bought,_ she thought. "He's not exactly a mage." She said.

"There have been rumors floating around that there's a fire mage here by the name of Salamander. He's having a party on his boat in the harbor later tonight."

She let out a sigh. "That's not who I'm looking for, then. Sorry to have wasted your time." With that, she turned around and left the magic shop.

The man gave an indignant cry as she closed the door behind her. "Won't you buy something?"

Reina ignored him, but she stood outside the store for several moments before heading away from the harbor. _If Igneel is here then more people would be talking about it. After all, a dragon _would_ gather a lot of attention. _"My guess is that the info we got was bad." She sighed again. "Natsu will be crushed."

-x-

After a day of asking around for any news of Salamander and only receiving responses of a "handsome, amazing, mage" with "extraordinary fire powers" which was quickly followed by, in some cases, "he's having a party on his boat, I wish I could go!" Reina was exhausted of hearing it over and over, and was hesitant to ask anyone else about Salamander. When nightfall came she was almost spent and she still hadn't found Natsu and Happy.

She came to a pathway that went up a hill—apparently there was a cliff over looking the port so she was hoping she could just rest and maybe find Natsu—and she heard someone exclaim, "I ate a lot!" Reina knew that voice anywhere and there would be only one person here who would be so loud when he had a full stomach. Grinning to herself, she walked faster and, sure enough, Natsu and Happy were there, walking along the path.

"There you two are!" She triumphantly exclaimed.

"Ahh, Reina!" Natsu grinned as their third comrade joined them.

Reina eyed him skeptically, "So, did you decide not to look for Salamander and just eat all day?"

"Ehh…" Sheepishly, Natsu rubbed the back of his head and gave her a satisfied grin. That was a sure sign that Natsu had just eaten a good meal and was content with the world. "We met a nice person who treated us."

"I knew it," she sighed. "You didn't really need to ask around anyway. Whenever I asked somebody they told me about a mage in town called Salamander. I don't think its Igneel, Natsu." She turned to look at harbor and she spotted a boat that was sailing out to sea. "Is that Salamander's ship?"

"Oh yeah!" Happy hopped up onto the railing, "he said he was having a party on a ship. I wonder if that's it."

"Huh. But why is it setting sail? It should be anchored instead of leaving the harbor." The girls may have acted all lovesick over the man but they wouldn't _elope_ with him (at least, she hoped). Reina narrowed her eyes. "Something's wrong here."

Natsu studied the ship as well but he turned green and looked away. "I feel sick," he muttered.

"Don't get sick thinking about it!" Reina groaned. Although she knew this well enough by now; Natsu also got sick just by thinking about transportation.

"Look there's Master Salamander's ship!" The trio looked to their left to see two girls, and one girl was pointing the ship out to her friend. "Aww, I wanted to go the party too!" She complained.

"Salamander?" Her friend asked.

"You don't know? He's that great mage who's currently in town." The other girl answered her question. "I heard he's a mage from that famous guild, _Fairy Tail_."

The moment that girl uttered those two words the three travelers' heads had snapped to look at the two girls with absolute shock evident on their faces.

"Fairy Tail?" Natsu whispered as he looked back at the ship. Quickly he turned away and shoved his face into his hand and crouched down. "Fairy Tail…" he said softly. He stood up; his tense body was vibrating with anger. "Let's go Happy!"

"Aye!" Happy responded, in two seconds Happy grabbed onto Natsu's back, grew wings, and then took off for the ship. The two girls ceased their chatter and watched in shock as Happy flew away with Natsu in his grasp.

"Wait, NATSU!" Reina cried. "Let me go instead! IT'S A _FREAKING_ SHIP!" There was no response as Happy was already gone; although Natsu should have heard her. He had excellent hearing.

"Idiot!" She seethed. "Why did you ask me to come along if you where going to ditch me?" She looked down towards the ground, calculating the drop. It was at least forty feet. "Eh, whatever." She muttered to herself and then hopped over the railing and let herself fall.

One of the girls let out a shriek of surprise when she jumped off the edge, but Reina had already hit the ground. The mage had landed on her feet and she winced at the tremors vibrating in the ground and that was now traveling up her legs. Shaking it off she began to make her way to the harbor.

Once she had reached the harbor, she stopped. The ship was coming back and not by itself. Oh no, it was coming back, courtesy of a _tidal wave_! "WHAT THE HELL?" Reina screamed as she scrambled away to find safety. There was a large crash as the ship came collided with land and came to a stop.

The female mage had managed to throw herself to the side and take cover underneath an awning of a merchant stall; she stood up and surveyed the damage, "Natsu couldn't have done that…" She murmured to herself. Natsu wouldn't have been able to move if he was on the ship. But now that the ship was on land, he should be fine.

Her thoughts were answered when a strange man burst through the side of the ship with Natsu right behind him. The man fell onto the ground but Natsu already had fire forming around his fists as he began to unleash a hellish fury onto the man. _Well, I think he's got this covered. _Already Reina could feel a nice, long complaint being sent to the master from the magic council.

"You're overdoing it!" A girl was screaming. "The port is all messed up!"

"Aye!" That was Happy.

"Don't say 'Aye' so calmly!" The same female voice cried.

Reina was running towards them when she heard the footsteps,."What's this ruckus?" A man in armor shouted as he led other men in armor carrying spears towards the harbor. The military had arrived.

"Crap! Let's run!" Natsu grabbed the blonde girl's hand, whom Reina recognized from the store earlier, and began to run the opposite way.

"Great job, Natsu, great job." Reina stated sarcastically as she caught up with him. She would have hit him, but instead she turned to the blonde girl. "I'm Reina, nice to meet you." She gave her a small smile, but then she turned her attention forward giving the blonde a view of the black fairy with a tail mark on the back of her left shoulder: the Fairy Tail guild stamp.

The girl returned with "Lucy," and then looked at Natsu and cried, "why me?"

"You want to join Fairy Tail, right?" Natsu replied as he looked back at her and grinned.

"Really?" Reina exclaimed.

Lucy nodded and Natsu grinned even wider, "then come with us!"

Natsu had let go of Lucy, but she ran with them. "Okay!" She laughed as the four of them hauled their butts out of Harujion.

-x-

The next day, the newspaper read: _Fairy Tail wreaks havoc on Harujion_. A man slammed the paper against the table. "THOSE FAIRY TAIL IDIOTS!" He roared.

At once, complains came from the other magic council members. "They destroyed half the port!"

"I won't be surprised if an entire town disappears one day!" One said.

"Don't jinx it, they really might do it." Another admonished the one who said that.

Some else cut in, "Anyway, I reported to the government that they did it to arrest the criminal Bora."

One man smiled and said, "I like those idiots."

"You shut up!" The man across from him spoke.

"It's true that they're a bunch of idiots." Someone spoke, "but they have a lot of skilled mages. That's why we're at a loss. We don't know what to do with them.

"Just let them be." The man who had spoken his approval of Fairy Tail spoke again. He looked to be the youngest member of the council with blue hair that brushed his shoulders. His eyes were closed as he looked away and opened them once more, to reveal gold colored eyes. The most noticeable thing about this man was that he had a tattoo on the right side of his face. "If we didn't have idiots like that… This world wouldn't be fun."

-x-

**1: Fiore is the name of country in which **_**Fairy Tail **_**is set. It means **_**Flower**_** in Italian.**

**Phew! I feel better now that I edited this. It probably still needs work, so I'll most likely come back to look at it with a fresh eye in the future. Well, what do you think? Please leave a review. Constructive criticism is appreciated; flames are not. **_**Fairy Tail**_** belongs to Mashima Hiro, Reina belongs to me.**


	2. Rescue!

**5/14/13: This chapter has been edited. Not much was changed except spelling and grammar mistakes and some word changes.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

"Wow!" Lucy uttered in amazement as she looked up at the headquarters of Fairy Tail. "It's huge."

Reina couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction; most newcomers said that about the building. The building had three layers, even though there were only two floors plus the basement down below. On the top there was a rounded ball-like structure that came to a point. Just in front of the third layer was the guild symbol on a flag. And resting on top of the door accompanied by two fairies where the large words: "_Fairy Tail_."

Happy turned to Lucy and said, "Welcome to Fairy Tail."

"Home sweet home," Reina added with a grin. It felt good to be back.

Natsu, being Natsu, walked up to the door and kicked it open. "WE'RE HOME!" He roared.

The familiar form of Mirajane, who was always serving others, turned to them. "Natsu, Reina, Happy, welcome back." The white-haired woman greeted with a warm smile.

"You overdid it again!" One of the older members laughed. "I read about the Harujion incident in the newspa—" He didn't have time to finish when Natsu crossed the room in an instant and sent him flying back with a kick to the face.

"Bastard! That information you gave me was fake!" Natsu shouted as he proceeded to beat the poor man senseless.

At once, people tried to stop him. "Ahh, it's so good to be back!" Reina smiled fondly at the sight of Natsu making a ruckus. She made her way to the bar and sat down next to Cana, the biggest drinker in the guild, turning her back on the inevitable mass fight that was about to happen.

And it did happen. And Reina helped herself to a drink all the same until a bottle came into contact with her head. "Okay, who threw it?" Reina shrieked as she whirled around and jumped into the fray.

-x-

"Don't you have to stop them?" Lucy asked Mira as she pointed at the large mass of clouds as the guild was engulfed in a fighting frenzy.

"It happens all the time. You don't have to worry about it." Mira told her as the two of them watched the fight. Natsu currently had a table and was about to throw it when Reina came from behind and kicked him squarely in the back, sending him flying, table and all.

"Victory!" Reina cheered until Gray hit her over the head with a stick and effectively knocked her down. "GRAY!" She screeched as she picked herself up and launched at him only to be pulled back by Natsu who threw himself at Gray.

"Oh dear." Lucy whimpered.

"And…" Mira was about to add when a stray bottle hit her and she went down.

"MISS MIRAJANE!" Lucy shrieked and knelt down to help her.

"Besides isn't it fun this way?" Mira smiled as she sat up and a mass of blood trickled down her head.

"It's _scary_!" Lucy deadpanned.

She leapt to the side when Gray crashed into the table next to her. He stood up and looked around in confusion. "HAHA!" Natsu laughed victoriously, waving Gray's boxers in the air.

"MY UNDERWEAR!" Gray shouted as he looked down and turned around. Unfortunately, he was facing Lucy who got a full look at Gray. Poor, poor Lucy.

Covering her eyes, she screamed, "DON'T FACE THIS WAY!"

When Gray noticed that Lucy was there he extended his hand to her and asked, "Lady, would you please let me wear your underwea—?"

"NO!" She shrieked as she punched him in the face. What was wrong with these people? Before she could get away from the naked man, she felt her feet leave the ground and then she was looking into the face of Loke.

He smiled down at her. "People with no elegance are really troublesome. By the way, which modeling agency do you belong to?" He was radiating flattery.

"Ahh—Wait," Lucy stammered. She felt very uncomfortable with him holding her. She really wanted nothing more than to get down and get away from him. _He's corrupting his own image!_ Loke was nothing like the magazines made him out to be; he was just a big flirt!

-x-

"Men should fight with fists!" A large man with white hair known as Elfman roared.

"Out of the way!" Reina retaliated by leaping into the air and kicking the large white-haired man down.

"You're all so noisy!" Cana turned around from the bar. "I hate it when I can't enjoy a drink peacefully." Ominously, she lifted a card in the air, "I'm going to end this." Green energy began to gather around the card.

Similar effects began to happen around the room, Gray place a fist in his hand and a white blue light emitted from where his fist met his hand. "I've had it!" He growled.

"Time to get serious, eh?" Reina chuckled dangerously as she placed her right hand over her left side where tendrils of black smoke began to creep out.

Elfman roared as his arm began to gain a scale imprint; Loki's ring glowed green, and Natsu shouted, "Come and get me!" as flames erupted around his hands.

If no one intervened it would become a full frontal magic fight. Thankfully, someone did intervene. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Instantly, a large shadow consumed the room as a giant towered over them. The master had appeared. "CUT IT OUT, YOU FOOLS!" With those words, all fighting in the room ceased. It wasn't wise to tempt Master Makarov's anger.

"Ahaha! You all backed out! This match is my—!" Natsu was about to proclaim his victory when the Master's large foot stepped on him.

"And he's out." Reina smiled as she sat down on the floor. Now all that was left was to hear Master's lecture about their stupidity.

The giant's white eyes rested on Lucy. "A newcomer?"

"Y-yes." Lucy squeaked as she beheld the large man.

Master's face contorted, causing him to look angrier than he did, but he began to shrink until the real Makarov stood before Lucy. "Nice to meet you!" He held his hand up in greeting before jumping away to stand on top of the balcony of the second floor. Though he was small, Master could still make a room listen to him when need be.

"You've done it again fools!" He spoke as he pulled out a fairly thick stack of paper out of his jacket. "Look at these documents the council has sent me." Bringing to papers closer to him, he began to read.

"First, Gray. Good job on sweeping out the smuggling organization but you walked around town naked afterwards, and _then_ ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried."

"But, it would've been worse if I was naked." Gray protested.

"Then don't walk around naked," Reina countered.

"Elfman," Master continued, "You had a mission to escort a VIP, but you ended up assaulting him."

"He said "men are all about education." Elfman protested weakly.

Shaking his head, Makarov continued on. "Cana Alberona: drinking fifteen big barrels of alcohol and _charging_ it to the _council_. Loke, flirting with council member Elder Reiji's granddaughter and a certain talent agency is charging us for damage compensation, too."

Finally, he reached the climax of the papers and he hung his head, "Natsu and Reina… You destroyed the Devon Thief Family but ending up destroying seven houses that belonged to the locals, leveled a historic clock tower in Tully Village, burned down a church in Freesia, damaged parts of Lupinus Castle, the Nazuna Ravine Observatory collapsed and their operations stopped as a result, and then you destroyed half the port in Harujion."

"Most of it was Natsu." Reina mumbled. Okay, she did destroy the Observatory and the clock tower when they collided on different jobs in the same town but the rest _was_ Natsu's doing.

"The council's always angry with me, but…" He looked up and grinned. "Screw the council members." And with that, the stack burst into flame. Master tossed the paper to the side where Natsu caught it and proceeded to eat it. _And that's where most of the council's complaints go._ Reina grinned as the Master went on, "The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle."

"When the spirit flow within us meets the spirit flow in nature, they will form an embodiment for the first time. Pouring all of your soul into whatever you do is the magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher ups, then your magic won't improve. Don't worry about those council idiots." Throwing his hands up in the air, he ended with, "Do whatever you think is right! That's the way of the Fairy Tail Mages!"

"Well said." Reina stood up and clapped.

She looked over and Lucy who was smiling as the cheers around her escalated. She was probably excited to join now.

-x-

Later that day, after the room was cleaned up, Reina sat down at one of tables, opposite Natsu, and set a tray on the table. "Here's your fire." She handed him a plate of fire pasta, chicken, and a fire drink. Happy grabbed his fish was already munching on it and Reina helped herself to the sandwich that remained and took a bite. "So what job should we take next?" Reina asked after she swallowed the bite. "Unless you'd prefer to go our separate ways again. I don't mind either way."

"A high paying one." Natsu replied between mouthfuls. He didn't answer her other question.

"I know that." She actually meant the _type_ of job.

"Look Natsu!" Lucy came over to their table and held up her right hand to reveal a pink Fairy Tail mark. "I got the mark of Fairy Tail!"

Swallowing the rest of his food, Natsu replied, "good for you, Luigi."

"It's _Lucy_!"

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, officially." Reina said to the blonde, but then turned to Natsu. "Why don't you choose the next job since you're not objecting to us spliting. I'm not in the mood." Natsu nodded and made his way over to the request board while Reina headed for the bar to get a drink.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a young boy approach the master. "Is my Daddy back yet?"

Master sighed. "You're an annoying boy, Romeo. If you are the son of a mage, trust him, be a good boy and wait for him at home."

"But… He said he'd be back in three days, it's been a week." Romeo sniffed, trying very hard to hold his tears in.

"He's at Mt. Hakobe, isn't he?" Makarov asked.

"It's not that far from here!" Romeo burst out. "Please send someone to look for him! I'm worried about him!"

"Your dad is a mage!" Master returned. "We have no mage here who can't take care of themselves. Now go home and wait for him."

Romeo screamed, "idiot!" But then walked out of the guild, crying as he went.

Reina sighed, _p__oor Romeo._ "Hey Natsu!" Nab broke her out of her thoughts. "Don't go breaking the request board!" Natsu had shoved a request back into the board so violently, he made a hole.

_Well, I see where this is going._ Downing the rest of her drink she slammed the glass down and followed Natsu out of the guild. "Wait up!"

Once she caught up with him, Natsu turned to her. "You don't have to come."

Shaking her head she replied, "but I want to." Looking back at the form of Romeo, she said, "I guess you can say… I'm a little jealous… …Of the love you two have for your fathers."

"Reina…" Natsu said quietly. Reina had never spoken of anything like that before.

"It's nothing Natsu." She caught his look and walked on. "I should just let that go." _It's no use. Thinking about that, nothing will ever change._ "How are we getting to Hakobe, anyway?"

"We're walking, what else?" Came his reply.

"Nah, how 'bout we take a carriage?" Reina replied. She grabbed a hold of the back of Natsu's shirt before he could protest and dragged him to the station. "We need to go to Mt. Hakobe." She told the man at the station.

He gave her an odd look. "You do know that the weather is acting odd there, right?"

She nodded. "Of course, a friend of ours is there and we need to find him." Next to her, Natsu was eying the carriage, already the sign of motion sickness was evident on his face.

"Get in." The man said as he began to hook some horses up to the carriage.

"Thank you." Reina bowed to him and then grabbed Natsu and proceeded to drag him aboard.

"Natsu! Reina! Wait!" The mages turned to see Lucy running towards them, "I'm coming too." She said as she skidded to a halt.

"Hop in." Reina told her. The blonde gave her a grin and scrambled into the carriage.

-x-

Since Natsu took up one side of the carriage, Reina and Lucy were seated next to each other. No one was speaking. Natsu was sick, Reina was switching her sandals for boots, and Lucy was deep in thought.

"Lucy." Reina spoke as she tied the laces on her boot. "Did Mira tell you about Igneel?"

Lucy was quiet, but then she spoke. "Yes."

"Don't let it get to you so much." She sat up, "If she told you about Igneel, then did she tell you about the pain each member has?" Lucy nodded and Reina continued, "The important thing to remember is that we may have had pain before in our lives, but that if that pain never happened, none of us may have ever met."

"Reina…" Lucy started to speak.

"Pain fades, remember that too." Reina interrupted her. "But always remember that pain. That's what keeps people going."

"What do you mean?"

"I've got nothing more to say." Reina picked up her sandals and grabbed Natsu's pack. She placed them in the bag and then pulled out a white parka. "Lucy, why did you come with us?"

"Er, because I wanted to do something that would help Fairy Tail!" She replied, a grin on her face. Obviously, she was trying to lighten up the mood and she turned towards Natsu. "Transportation doesn't go well with you, does it?" She giggled as she watched Natsu prone form. "I pity you."

The carriage came to a halt. Natsu's eyes snapped open as he leaped up. "It stopped!"

"Are we there already?" Lucy questioned.

"I'm sorry." The voice of the driver came through the curtain at the front. "We can't go any further with the carriage."

When Reina opened the door, the mages saw what he meant. They where in a snow storm, a very large snow storm. "What's going on?" Lucy cried. "Even though we're in the mountains, it's supposed to be summer!"

The four stepped out of the carriage as it turned around and went back they way they came. "It's cold!" Lucy wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

"Always be prepared, Lucy." Reina told her as she zipped up her parka and pulled the hood over her head. "Natsu has a blanket you can borrow."

Lucy took that advice and grabbed the blanket. Wrapping herself in it, she held up a silver key and cried, "O-open! The door of the clock: Horologium!" So, Lucy was a Stellar Spirit Mage.

A large grandfather clock appeared, the clock had little black arms and legs and a head. Putting her key away, Lucy opened the door and settled inside the clock. "I'll stay in here, she says." The clock spoke.

"Why did you even come?" Natsu grumbled.

"Speaking of that, what job did Macau come here for? She says."

"You came here without knowing that?" Natsu looked at her oddly. "To subdue the monster: Vulkan."

"Oh, so that's why he came here?" Reina spoke as she looked around.

"You didn't know either?" Natsu exclaimed.

"Nope. I wasn't at the guild when he took the job."

"Let's just go." Natsu groaned.

"I want to go home, she says." The clock said.

"Yes, go ahead, says I." Natsu told the clock.

"Is it just me, or did the wind pick up?" Reina asked. It was true though, the snow had gotten thick, if they didn't find Macau soon, they would get lost. "MACAU!" She shouted but her voice was lost in the wind.

"Where are you!" Natsu joined in. "Were you done in by the Vulkan!"

Looking around, Reina felt the temperature drop. She looked up and screamed, "ABOVE US!"

The both of them leaped back in time to avoid something crash down into the ground where Natsu had been standing. It was the Vulkan. The Vulkan resembled a large monkey and even acted like as well but their faces were totally different. Not to mention, he had a horn on top of his head.

In an instant, the Vulkan leaped over Natsu and made his way to Horologium. He pressed his head against the glass as he looked at Lucy. "Human woman." He cooed.

Picking up the clock, the monster turn tail and ran. The other two mages watched the Vulkan run away. "He kidnapped Lucy." Reina remarked.

Natsu, however, said, "it can speak, huh?"

"Can you still smell her?" Reina asked as the Vulkan disappeared from sight.

"Of course." Natsu said and the two of them took off with Natsu in the lead. "He's got a cave at the top of this mountain; his smell is all over the place."

"Right. And you didn't smell him before?"

Natsu went even faster as they raced up the mountain and then found the entrance to the cave; he was the first in. When Reina entered, Natsu was shouting, "Where's Macau?"

"Uho?" The monkey asked.

"You understand me, right? I'm talking about Macau! A human man!" Natsu said.

"A man?" The Vulkan repeated.

"Yeah! Now, where did you hide him?" Natsu pointed at the Vulkan.

The Vulkan was silent for a moment but then he grinned and waved Natsu over. "Is he over there?" Natsu walked over to where the Vulkan was pointing and peered out of a hole in the cave.

"Wait, Natsu!" Reina shouted when she saw the Vulkan grin mischievously and ran forward but it was too late. With a mighty shove the Vulkan pushed Natsu out the cave.

When the Vulkan turned back to face the two people left in the cave he received a kick to the face, courtesy of Reina. "You bastard!" She shouted as she landed back on the ground.

"Ooh, other woman." He grinned as he eyed Reina.

"Shut up." She growled and charged him once more. When she jumped once again, the monkey reached out a large black hand, whacked her in the side, and caught hold of her leg. Suddenly, she found herself upside down. "Hey, that's cheating!" She cried as she used her free leg to kick at his arm. "Do something Lucy!"

"I am! Open, the door to the Bull! Taurus!" From her upside down position Reina could see a large cow that was standing on two legs. He was naked except for the black Speedo and boots.

"A bull?" Reina asked.

"Taurus is the most powerful spirit I have!" Lucy shouted. "Prepare yourself."

Instead, the bull looked at Lucy and said, "Lucy-san! You have nice boobs as always. Moo-re amazing than ever."

Lucy slapped her forehead. "Oh yeah, he's a pervert too."

"Don't take my woman!" The Vulkan growled.

"Blood rushing… to head…" Reina groaned.

"Your woman?" Taurus looked at the monkey, anger etched onto his face.

"Get him, Taurus!" Lucy cheered.

"You should say 'my boobs' instead!"

"That's not right!" Lucy shrieked. Reina let out another groan, they were _so_ screwed.

"I'm moo-re than ready!" The bull shouted and he pulled out his large battle axe and began to rush at the monkey.

The Vulkan dropped Reina, who landed on the ground with a loud _thud_, and made to lunge at Taurus. But when a voice came from the outside, they both stopped. "How dare you push me off a cliff!" The figure of Natsu walked back through the entrance.

"Natsu! You're alive!" Lucy exclaimed with joy.

Instead, Natsu looked at Taurus and his anger grew. Rushing up to the bull he kicked him away. "There are more monsters now!?"

"I can't take any moo-re." Taurus moaned as he fell.

"I was worrying about you and you do this?" Lucy said angrily, but she calmed down and asked. "Besides, how did you survive?"

Natsu grinned and looked up, "It was all thanks to Happy." There was Happy, flying around at the top of the cave. "Right?"

"Aye!" The cat said.

"I forgot that you had wings." Lucy said.

"It's a magic called 'wings'." Reina informed her as she stood up and dusted herself off. "That's stupid monkey, grabbing my leg like that."

"You can't deal with transportation, but you're okay with Happy?" Lucy asked Natsu.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu asked, "Happy isn't for transportation, He's a 'nakama' (1). You're weird."

"Sorry." Lucy replied.

"Listen, all of Fairy Tail members are nakama." Natsu turned fully to Lucy as the Vulkan approached them from behind.

"N-Natsu." Lucy stuttered.

"From the old geezer to Mira. Then the annoying Gray to Elfman."

"I got it! Watch your back." Lucy screamed and pointed at the Vulkan.

"To Happy, Reina, and then Lucy. We are all Nakama. That's why…" Natsu turned around to face the Vulkan. "I'm taking Macau home!" His foot lit on fire and Natsu kicked the Vulkan down.

"He's right, Lucy." Reina came up next to her. "Nakama support each other. Each member of Fairy Tail is valued." She watched Natsu approach the Vulkan again.

"Tell me where Macau is or I'll burn you to charcoal." Natsu threatened.

The monkey stood up and growled; reaching up to the ceiling, he tore off some ice sickles and began to pelt them at Natsu. Natsu simply stood there and melted the ice as it came in contact with his body. "That won't work on me!"

"Huh?" Now the Vulkan was holding Taurus' battle axe and examining it.

"Isn't that the bull's…?" Reina asked Lucy.

"TAURUS'S AXE!" Lucy shrieked as the Vulkan swung the axe at Natsu who could only dodge.

"Maybe I should help." Reina said as she watched the monkey swing the axe down and Natsu ended up placing his hands on either side of the axe in order to block it. Her hand went to her left side.

"Wake up, Taurus." Lucy was shaking the unconscious bull. "You have to go back so the axe can go back too!"

Instead, Natsu's hands glowed red and so did the blade. As a result, a little drop of melted metal dripped into Natsu's mouth. _I didn't know he could eat that._ Reina thought as she watched and her hand fell away. Suddenly, Natsu spit the metallic ball out and it whacked the monkey on the forehead. When the Vulkan was distracted, Natsu made his move. "Iron Fist of the Salamander!" With a fired up fist he punched the monkey.

As a result, the Vulkan hit the wall of the cave, creating cracks where he had hit. "Natsu, weren't you going to ask him where Macau is?" Reina asked as she looked at the fallen Vulkan.

"Oh yeah!"

"Wait…" Reina narrowed her eyes as many cracks began to appear on the Vulkan. "Vulkans use 'take-over' magic. Natsu…" Vulkans survived by using the magic take-over to literally take over another person's body. Was it possible that Macau was the Vulkan?

She was correct, the cracks disappeared to reveal Macau. "Macau!" Natsu shouted with joy.

"Oh no!" Reina shouted as Macau fell through the hole in the wall. Both she and Natsu went for the hole, Natsu going out first with Reina right behind him. Natsu had managed to grab Macau's leg but he fell out. Reina clamped onto Natsu's leg but the combined weight of the two males caused her to start slipping out.

Even though Happy had Reina's leg and was desperately trying to keep them afloat it wasn't enough; until Lucy showed up and grabbed onto Happy's tail. "So heavy…" She heaved and tried to pull them up.

"Don't let go!" Reina shouted to her.

She was slipping and they all knew it but two strong arms encircled Lucy's abdomen. "You have nothing moo-re to worry about." Taurus told her, smiling.

"Bull!" Natsu cried with joy as Taurus pulled the four of them up and back into the cave. Once inside the safety of the cave, they immediately laid Macau down to examine his wounds.

"He's was fighting for quite awhile. The wound on his side is severe." Lucy said as she tried to clean the bloody wound.

"We don't have anything in the first-aid kit for his wound." Reina said as she went through the kit in Natsu's pack.

"Hang on Macau!" Natsu said and placed his fiery hand on the wound. Macau groaned in pain and tried to get away from Macau's hand. "Bear with it Macau! Lucy, Reina hold him down!" Natsu barked at the two.

_He's trying to close the wound. It's the only thing we have._ "Romeo's waiting for you! Don't you _dare_ leave him!" Reina shouted. _Don't you dare abandon your son._

With a violent cough, Macau regained consciousness. "Shit. I only got nineteen of them, then the twentieth one…"

"Stop talking or you'll open your wound!" Natsu scolded.

"How will I face Romeo?" Macau groaned.

"Do you want me to punch you?" Natsu growled.

_Amazing… Macau, you did this for Romeo? _Reina smiled sadly, _you're so lucky to have a great father… Romeo._

-x-

It wasn't until the next day when they got back to Magnolia, but the look on Romeo's face when Macau came back was worth the trip. But tears came to Romeo's face. "Daddy, I'm sorry."

"I made you worry." Macau knelt down to hug his son. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm a son of a mage."

"Next time those boys pick on you, ask them if their old man can defeat nineteen monsters, 'kay?"

Romeo grinned. "'Kay." He looked over at the three mages who were leaving, "Thanks, Natsu-Bro! Happy! Reina-Sis!" He took a breath, "And thank you too, Lucy-Sis!" Lucy turned and waved to Romeo.

"Now I need a shower." Reina said as she turned onto Raspberry Street. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"See ya." Natsu said.

"Bye!" Lucy waved.

Once Reina had reached her apartment; she closed the door and stood there for a moment. Letting out a sigh, she crossed the threshold and entered her room. As she walked through her room, she looked over to her nightstand. She hesitated for a moment but she shook her head and then entered the bathroom.

"I keep telling you, Reina. It's no use." Tears pricked at her eyes but she refused to cry. Turing on the shower, she stripped off her clothes and entered the warm downpour of water. _There's nothing that can be done, Reina. Let it be._ Resting her head against the wall, she stood there for several moments, basking in the warmth, almost hoping that it would cool the icy pit that had settled in her stomach. But, it didn't.

-x-

At the guild, a sign was posted. It read: '_Fairy Tail Free Day' is coming up! Be prepared!_

-x-

**1: Nakama means comrade.**

**Yay! Chapter two is done. Usually one chapter will cover about two manga chapters. But, for some of you who like to read original fan fiction work, there will be some added arcs of my own. Like in the next chapter.**

**But, the story will follow along the manga's plotline. I have to keep reminding myself when I write that that you guys already know what's going on. So, I don't go into the biggest description when describing a character, because you already know what they look like.**

**All that you recognize from **_Fairy Tail_ **belongs to Hiro Mashima; all that you don't recognize belongs to me. Constructive criticism is appreciated, flames are not.**


	3. Fairies for Hire!

**5/14/13: This chapter has been edited. Not much was changed except for spelling and grammar mistakes.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

The Master was quite clever, really. It wasn't until two days after they brought Macau back that people finally began to notice the sign that had been posted on the _back_ of the request board. It read: _'Fairy Tail Free Day' is coming up! Be prepared!_

"It was really sneaky of him," Reina commented as she cut into her steak during dinner because she no longer had food in her apartment and didn't have money to buy anything. "He only put up one sign here but had placed lots of around Caldia Cathedral where we never really go."

"What is Fairy Tail Free Day?" Lucy asked. She looked worried as some other people moaned and groaned about the particular day wafted around the room.

"Well, you know how requests are made to guilds, right?" Lucy nodded and Reina continued, "About a few years ago, Master created Fairy Tail Free Day. Basically, once a year, any member who's around the guild that day can't go out on jobs and people come to Fairy Tail with requests and we do those jobs free of charge."

"Absolutely free?"

"Yep. They have to come in person, though. Otherwise, we'd consider it an official request. Originally, Master created it to establish a relationship with the townsfolk." Stabbing a piece of meat with her fork, Reina placed the food in her mouth and chewed.

"So it's a day where we make no money whatsoever."

Reina swallowed. "Uh-huh. That's why he put the sign on the back of the request board. Believe it, or not, some people in Fairy Tail don't like working for free." She thought about a certain blond-haired mage with a fur coat. "Even if a lot of us don't mind working for free, Master still finds it enjoyable to spring the date on us. That's why most people are groaning about it."

Across from her, Lucy looked like she was having a panic attack. "B-but—what if some pervert tries to hire me? A cute girl like me is bound to attract perverse men…"

"_Right_…" Reina muttered as Lucy went on to list her worries about taking requests for free. _Soon I'll be at a disadvantage. We won't be taking paying jobs anytime soon. And my tab is getting bigger everyday now._ She hated having a tab. "It'll be fine Lucy." She interrupted the Stellar Spirit mage's list of worries. "Most of them are just odd jobs anyway."

It wouldn't be too bad but maybe she should go on a mission instead, she needed the money. Reina took a sip of her drink. At the most, she had a few days to decide whether or not she should stick around for Fairy Tail Free Day.

-x-

Natsu poked around the request board. There was something fishy about the free day sign as he sat behind the board, staring at it. Just staring… Until he reached out his hand and lifted up the sign. He made a face when he saw the large number written in red behind it. "IT'S TOMORROW!"

Reina spit out her drink.

-x-

The next day, the guild was fuller than it usually was. There would be no mages leaving town for big jobs because they had to help out the townsfolk today. "Please be an easy job, please be an easy job…" Lucy was chanting in the corner.

"Relax Lucy." Reina told her as she lounged against the wall. "Nothing bad is going to happen. The townspeople are really nice." Already, several people had come by with their request and some mages left with them. "It's such an inconvenience." She hadn't gone on a job in almost a month, her tab was getting bigger and she had no money. "By the way Lucy, you haven't paid me yet."

Since Lucy was unable to find a place to stay for the moment, Reina offered to let her sleep on her couch until she could find a place (she showed up on Reina's doorstep after they rescued Macau). "You want money?"

"Oh, just a couple hundred jewels to help cover my rent."

"You're so cruel."

"Girl's gotta eat." Well, if she had money she would let Lucy stay for free _buuut_ since she was broke, Lucy could afford to fork over some money to sleep on Reina's couch.

"You'll do." Someone interrupted them and both mages looked down to see a young girl, probably a couple years older than Romeo standing in front of them. She had brown hair tied into a braid and wore a dirty yellow dress and sandals. Her brown eyes looked Reina up and down. "I have a request for you." She said and put her hands on her hips.

"Hmm?" Reina looked back at her. "Alright, I guess I'm all yours."

The girl didn't smile but turned around and quickly walked back the way she came. Waving good-bye to Lucy, Reina followed her. "What exactly am I doing?"

Without even stopping, she replied, "Bodyguard work."

"Bodyguard?"

"Yes. I wanted Erza, but you'll do." So this little girl wanted the strongest female mage in the guild to do bodyguard duty for her? _For what?_

"Am I supposed to be guarding you?" Reina asked.

"No."

Reina sighed; the girl was being clear as mud. "At least tell me your name."

"Rosy."

_Rosy… Comes close to…_ "Well _Rosy_, I'm Reina. Pleased to meet you." Reina bowed her head in Rosy's direction but the girl didn't even look at her. She kept on walking.

"Just hurry up!"

_Stingy little brat._ Reina bit her lip in order to keep her insults to herself. She didn't appreciate it when clients treated her like crap. They continued to walk in silence as they went past the cobblestone roads and streets and entered the land of dirt paths, farm, and forests.

"This is it." Rosy stopped as they came upon a garden. But the only way Reina could tell it was a garden was that it was a patch of dirt surrounded by green earth; the plants were barren and trampled.

"That's a very crappy garden." Reina stated.

CLUNK! A watering can came into contact with Reina's head. "Shut up!" Rosy screamed and then she sunk into a crouch, her lip trembling. "My garden wasn't always like this," she said quietly.

"The farm that's a little father down the way… it belongs to my family. Since I'll inherit the farm when I'm older, my family gave me a small piece of our land to practice on." She sniffled. "But a man came along and now he's trying to take our farm away! Now, his son keeps coming around and terrorizing my garden." Rosy looked up. "So that's why I need you to protect my garden!"

Reina studied the young girl for a moment, rubbing the sore spot on her head while she did. "So you want me to protect your garden?"

Rosy nodded. "With you protecting it, those boys won't bother me."

Reina shook her head. "I'm only doing this for a day. Tomorrow, I'll be taking up jobs that _pay_ so I can make a living."

"_You can't_!" Rosy shrieked. "I'll pay you! If those boys keep destroying my garden then I'll never be able to take care of the farm when I inherit it."

"Even _if_ I stay here and protect this garden all the time," Reina gestured to the patch of dirt, "you'll never be able to stand up for yourself. I can't fight all of your battles for you."

"But…" Rosy looked like she was about to cry. "I hate it so much when they take all of my vegetables—my hard work—and throw it in the river and then trample what's left. I can't _stand_ it!"

"Then fight back." Reina told her. "I'll watch over this garden for today, but you'd better learn how to defend yourself, otherwise, when you get the farm, they'll still be able to bully you."

The look on Rosy's face told Reina that she'd never even thought about it. Giving a small grin Reina spoke, "out of curiosity, why did you pick me?"

"Because you look scary."

"I look scary?" Looking down, she took in her outfit. Aside from her sandals, she was wearing black capris and a simple, white tank top with dark colored designs on it in sporadic places. Gritting her teeth, Reina replied, "bright colors clash with my hair, dammit."

"Whatever you say." Rosy smirked.

"Why does no one believe me?" Reina grumbled. Could anyone really imagine her wearing yellow? Ugh, it was horrible.

Rosy was laughing. She giggled as she sat down on the grass. "You're funny!"

While Reina sulked, Rosy busied herself with uprooting several plants and planting new seeds. She hummed as she worked and smiled happily. The Fairy Tail mage settled herself on the ground, cross-legged, and watched curiously. "Are you the oldest kid in your family, then?" Reina asked after awhile.

Rosy nodded. "The only, actually. So I spent my life learning how to farm and grow plants."

"Sounds dull."

"It's not. It's amazing to watch a seed grow into a gorgeous flower." Rosy smiled. "Especially bellflowers, they're my favorite."

"Uh-huh."

Rosy frowned. "I like to farm! What's so wrong with that?"

"Nothing. It's just something that I wouldn't do." Reina gestured to the plants around them. "I think it'd be a lonely life with just plants for company."

"I'm not lonely, I have my family. Mama and Papa and Grandpapa too." Rosy looked at Reina. "Isn't it lonely being a mage? I mean, mages travel all the time, you'd never settle down with someone."

Reina shook her head. "It's _never_ lonely. I have all my nakama, we're all family. Traveling to different towns is an adventure in itself."

"Don't you have any _real_ family?"

The mage bristled. "Fairy Tail _is_ my family." But her expression softened, "But, I do have a brother and a sister."

"Are they in Fairy Tail too?"

Reina shook her head. "No. They're in different guilds but I'm not sure where. I haven't spoken with them in a long time." Or seen them in what—five years?

Rosy was quiet for a moment but then, "you should get in touch with them." Reina didn't answer. Instead, she looked away from Rosy and looked at the ground. The girl frowned, but she didn't say anything else until something caught her eye. "You have a worm on you." She pointed at her leg and Reina looked down to see a worm on her calf.

Reina shrieked and jumped up shaking her leg, trying to get the disgusting thing off. Rosy laughed. "It's just a worm!" She giggled.

"They're _disgusting_!" She checked her leg again and was relieved to see that it was worm-free. "I hate creepy-crawlies."

"Well, well, well. What's going on, _Rosy_?" A male voice cut through Rosy's giggles.

Rosy's smile vanished. "Devin…" She said quietly. Her lip quivered and her shoulders tensed.

Who was Devin? Reina turned and saw him.

Devin was a short boy, probably around Rosy's age, with messy, red hair. He smirked maliciously at Rosy. "Trying to salvage what's left of your _garden_?" He was mocking her. "Why bother? It's only matter of time before Father buys this land and builds our summer home here."

"He won't!" Rosy shot at him. "Papa won't let him!"

Reina watched the two, quietly, but stiffened when two more boys came from the cornfield and joined Devin. "Who's going to stop him? That old man? Your Father? _You_?" Devin laughed coldly and cruelly.

Rosy's eyes watered. "Y-you're trespassing! Get off this property."

The three boys guffawed, they knew Rosy was weakening. "We don't have to. This _farm_ is practically _mine_."

"_I said, get off my farm_!" Rosy shrieked as she stood up, watering can in hand. She glared at the three.

"Gonna fight us?" One of the boys sneered. "What can a _wittle gurl_ do?"

Reina felt a muscle in her arm twitch. _S__uch horrible boys._ She placed her hand on her left shoulder and the black smoke began to leak out.

Devin stepped forward, "You can't do anything to stop us, you're just a weak, pathetic, girl and—"

_WHAM!_ Rosy threw the watering can and hit him right in the face. The boy toppled and hit the ground.

"Devin!" The other two boys rushed to his aide.

Devin rubbed his face, already there was a black eye forming. "You little—"

"_I believe she asked you to leave_." The three boys stopped dead in their tracks as a very _large_ shadow loomed over them. Rosy, Devin, and the other two boys looked up to see a huge humanoid skeleton, at least four stories tall. The thing was on four legs and it leered at three boys. In front of it, stood a very calm Reina.

"W-what is that thing?" One of the boys squeaked.

"I don't want to know." Another wailed as they turned tail and ran away.

Reina smirked at the sight of the boys running down the path. "R-Reina?" Rosy timidly spoke.

"Hmm?" Reina turned to her. "What?"

"_What is that_?" She screamed.

"Oh." Reina turned back as the skeleton began to shrink until a smaller version of the skeleton sat in her hands. "This is Pooka, an extension of my magic." Pooka skittered around in her hand. "Isn't he cute?"

"It's scary!" Rosy deadpanned. "It's a skeleton!"

"Oh, don't listen to her Pooka." Reina cuddled the little skeleton and began to coo to it. "I think you're adorable."

Rosy spoke, "you're weird."

Childishly, Reina stuck her tongue out at Rosy. "So those were the people I was supposed to guard your garden from?"

Rosy nodded. "I'll admit that was pretty cool. And you chased them away too!"

Reina laughed.

-x-

The rest of the day was filled with the two girls planting seeds and irrigating the garden. Even though Reina was fairly dirty—was probably never going to wear her shirt again—and had several smudges on her face, she didn't care. After she chased those boys away, the day was rather fun.

"Thank you." Rosy said as Reina told her it was time for her to go.

"You're welcome." Reina returned. "I'll see you around."

Rosy nodded and picked up her gardening tools. "you have to meet my family one day, too. They'll love to meet you."

"Maybe." And with that, the two of them went their separate ways home. _Family, huh?_ Reina chuckled. _I'm sure my siblings are doing fine._ But something was nagging her and it was pulling at her chest. _S__top it, Reina._ She scolded herself. "They can take care of themselves."

-x-

"How was your day Lucy?" Reina asked as she stepped out of her room, in her pajamas and a rubbing a towel on her hair. Lucy returned while Reina was in the shower, but Reina heard her moving around while she dried off and dressed in her pajamas.

"Reina, I found a place to live!" Lucy beamed. "It's over on Strawberry Street."

Strawberry Street was only a few streets over. Reina tilted her head. "How did you find it?"

"The lady who hired me today was moving out of it! It's only seventy-thousand jewels a month." Lucy was grinning as she put her things together. "And now its mine!"

"Seventy-thousand jewels; must be pretty spacious."

"It's not that much bigger than your place." Lucy said as she gestured to living room and kitchenette in the corner. "It kind of looks like this place, only, I don't have my own bedroom." The blonde paused packing. "By the way, Reina. How much do you pay for this place?"

"Twenty thousand jewels every three months."

"_YOU PAY __WHAT_?" Lucy shrieked.

-x-

**Another chapter done. This was my first attempt at originality, it was kind of meant to be fluffy with some revealing information about Reina. Plus, with a tad look at her magic. Pooka-chan is actually a reference to one of my favorite games.**

**Sadly, we must enter the manga arcs again, this time with the Evaroo mission. But, it's short. Only two chapters, maybe one. Nah, probably two.**

**Constructive criticism is appreciated, flames are not. The world of **_Fairy Tail_ **belongs to Mashima Hiro. All that you don't recognize from **_Fairy Tail_ **belongs to me.**


	4. Infiltrate Mansion Evaroo!

**5/15/13: This chapter has been edited. Nothing was changed much except for spelling and grammar mistakes. Some wording was changed as well.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

"Reina." The said female mage looked up from her oatmeal to find Natsu standing there, a job-request page in hand.

Reina frowned. "So... are you asking for my help again?"

Natsu ignored her and sat down. "I want to ask you and Lucy to join our team."

The girl blinked in surprise and set down her spoon. "Really?"

He nodded. "Is that okay with you?"

Reina was stunned. Sure, they had done a couple jobs together and he asked her to come with him to Harujion to look for Igneel. "Yeah, I'll join." She agreed. "And I really like Lucy."

But a suspicious thought crossed her mind, "do you have an ulterior motive for this?" She glanced at the request in his hand. "Let me see it." Taking it from him, she looked it over and snorted.

The job was simple enough, they were to sneak into the The Duke of Evaroo's mansion and steal a book. But the caption that was under the picture of the short, round man with an absolutely creepy grin on his face made her realize why Natsu wanted Lucy on their team.

It read: *_Warning, this person is a womanizer and a pervert. Is now looking to hire a blonde-haired maid!_

"Really, Natsu? Really?" Reina laughed and handed the request back to him. She grinned. "Let's do it. You head over to Lucy's and I'll finish my breakfast and meet you there later."

"Alright!" Natsu grinned widely and with that, he and Happy departed for Lucy's.

Shaking her head, Reina muttered, "That boy." _Of course, I know he's not asking for her just for that job. He really wants her on the team._ "I sense something is afoot."

"What's wrong with your foot, my dear Reina?"

"It's an expression Loke." She sighed and returned to her oatmeal. This was third day in a row she ate breakfast at the guild. Having no money sucked.

Gray snorted, "So you and the cute newcomer are joining Natsu?" He smirked at Reina, "will you two start a rivalry for him?"

Reina stared at him before going finishing her oatmeal. "Gray… Look down."

"_OH_ CRAP!"

Once Reina finished her breakfast, she walked briskly to Lucy's new place. It wasn't bad actually, definitely cute and homey. But she wouldn't trade her place for anything. Plus, Lucy would have jumped to pay the rate she was paying. _I love my landlord._ Walking up to the door of Lucy's place, she opened it and announced, "morning, Lucy. Where's the tea?"

"You can't just walk in!" Lucy wailed once she saw who was walking into her living room. She was currently crouched on the floor clutching some papers to her chest, wearing only a towel.

"Are you trying to seduce Natsu, Lucy?" Reina teased. For some reason, she felt giddy.

"NO!"

"Kidding!" Reina laughed and sat down at the table. "Tea, please." She was hungry; for the past few days she kept her meal amounts to a minimum in order to budget the money she had left.

"That's just rude." Lucy grumbled as she picked herself off the floor and set the water-filled kettle on the stove and left to go get dressed.

"She is so fun to mess with." Reina remarked as she helped herself to some of Natsu's chips.

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.

"So, did you ask her?"

"Not yet." Happy answered between mouthfuls of his fish.

When Lucy had returned and served them tea she stated plainly, "I have nothing for you to entertain yourself with. So once you finish your tea, please go home."

"You're so cruel." Natsu stated and Happy 'ayed' in agreement.

"And after I let you sleep on my couch!" Reina huffed in mock indignation.

Lucy scowled. "I'm giving you tea. Be grateful."

"Such harsh words." Reina mumbled and sipped her tea.

"Lucy!" Natsu leaned over the table, ignoring his tea completely. "Show me all of those spirit guys you have!"

Reina perked up, she had never seen a Stellar Spirit up close until she had seen that bull on Mt. Hakobe. She was pretty sure that Lucy was the only Stellar Spirit mage in the guild. "Yeah! C'mon." She begged.

"I can't do that," Lucy protested. "It'll use up all my magic power. And they're not _guys_, they're Stellar Spirits." She corrected Natsu.

"How many do you have?" Happy asked.

"Six units; we count our contracts in units." Lucy pulled out six keys: three silver and three gold and set them on the table. Gesturing to the silver keys, she said, "Silver keys are the most common. You can buy them in stores. I have Horologium, the clock; Crux, the Southern Cross; and Lyra, the lyre."

"What about the gold ones?" Happy picked up one of the gold ones.

"The gold ones are the rare keys of the Ecliptic Zodiac. You can't buy them in stores. Taurus, the Bull; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Cancer, the Crab." She pointed to each one.

"_Crab_?" Natsu and Happy shot up with excitement in their eyes.

"Don't get excited about it," Reina remarked as she picked up Aquarius's key and looked at it. It's design was more extravagant than the silver ones. The end of the key looked like a pot with the symbol of Aquarius etched on. And the teeth kind of looked like a fin. "Cool." She put it back on the table.

"Oh! I haven't made a contract with Nicola, the Canis Minor, yet." Lucy stood up. "I'll show you guys how Stellar Spirit mages and the Stellar Spirits make contracts." Setting herself apart from the other three, Lucy held out a silver key and chanted, "I am the person who connects the road to the Stellar Spirit World. Thou shall respond to the calling and pass through the gate." A lock appeared at the end of the key and Lucy finished with: "Open a door to the Canis Minor, Nicola!"

With a poof of smoke, a small creature—about the size of Happy—appeared. It stood on two legs, like Happy, but it had a horn for a nose. When it stood it began to tremble a bit. Reina bit her lip in order to keep from laughing at the absurdity of the Spirit while Natsu tried to console Lucy. "I'm sure you'll get it right next time…" He sniggered.

"I didn't fail!" Lucy shot back. Turning around, she picked up the Spirit and hugged him to her chest. "He's so cute!"

Reina snorted. "Pooka's cuter."

"Reina, that skeleton is _not_ cute." Natsu stated.

She glared. "Is too! And you just have a vendetta against him because he made the clock tower fall on you."

"_Skeleton_?" Lucy gulped and stared at Reina, wide-eyed. She returned to Nicola. "His gate doesn't consume too much magic and he's popular for being a pet-type Spirit."

She went over to her desk in the corner and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. "Now, onto the contract! Mondays?" Nicola shook his head. "Tuesdays?" A nod. "Wednesdays?" Another nod. "Can I call you on Thursdays, too?"

As she continued through the remaining days, the three other mages stared in amazement. "It's not complex at all." Natsu whispered.

"Aye!"

"Contract done!" Lucy smiled. "It looks easy, but it's very important! Contracts are held with the utmost importance, that's why I'll never break my promises!"

"Uh-huh…" Reina drawled and finished the rest of her tea.

"Now he needs a name." Lucy looked at the small Spirit.

"I thought it was Nicola," Natsu stated.

"It's the generic name." Lucy explained as a frustrated expression grew on her face. Clearly, she could not think of a name.

An idea hit Reina. "C'mere Plue!" Instantly, Plue ran over to her and jumped up in her lap. "Plue it is!" She laughed and patted his head.

"You can't just go naming him!" Lucy cried. "But Plue does have a nice ring to it," she conceded.

Reina just grinned in response and Plue jumped off her lap and did what looked like a series of strange dance moves on the floor. "What's he doing?"

"THAT'S AN AWESOME IDEA, PLUE!" Natsu roared, causing Reina and Lucy to jump in surprise, as he moved himself closer to the Spirit.

"You can understand him?" Lucy asked. Natsu understood the strangest of things. Even if someone mumbled into a pillow, he could perfectly understand what they were saying.

Nodding, Natsu said, "true, the bull did help on the mountain." Lucy muttered something under her breath about respecting Spirits. "I didn't think she would be coming with us… But, if Lucy wasn't there we wouldn't have won." Lucy looked at Natsu in amazement, she was touched even, and Natsu looked back at her. "Now that I think about it, you _are_ a weird person. But you're a reliable and good weird person."

_Here it comes._ Reina thought but she was impressed. Natsu had a good way with words, with the way he was reeling Lucy in.

"I agree with Plue!" Natsu stood up and grinned at Lucy. "I want you to join our team!"

"Team?" Lucy trailed off clearly not knowing what it meant.

"Aye! All the members of the guild are nakama," Happy explained. "But we make teams with people we get along with. Difficult jobs are easier to execute when you're in a team." Reina nodded in agreement. "Natsu, and I have been a team for a long time and today we decided to invite Reina and Lucy."

Lucy smiled. "That's a great idea! I'd love to join your team."

Natsu grinned even wider. "Great! I've already picked out a job!" He pulled out the request and handed it to Lucy.

Reina desperately tried to hide her sniggers as Lucy's face went stony as she read the request. She looked over at the three glaring as Natsu whispered to Reina, "Lucy has blonde hair, doesn't she?"

The other female nodded, "yup, she should sneak in as a maid." They shared devilish grins.

"_You tricked me_!" Lucy shrieked.

"And Stellar Spirit Mages _always_ keep their promises." Natsu added and Lucy froze. He had her in a corner. "Let's practice! Start by calling Happy, _Master_!"

"I'm not gonna call a cat, Master!" She retorted indignantly.

"Get me another fish, maid." Happy said.

"Stop it!" She wailed. Reina just laughed and shook her head. "Reina, please make them stop!" Lucy cried as she went over to Reina and clutched her arm.

"Alright Natsu, Happy. That's enough." Reina reprimanded. "We need leave for Shirotsume Town and we'll take a carriage." She added as Natsu opened his mouth to protest.

Lucy grinned wickedly. Clearly she was going to take her revenge on Natsu while he was immobilized by the moving carriage. Natsu paled slightly and moaned softly. "Can't we just walk?"

"No." The two women replied unanimously as Lucy disappeared into the bathroom, a change of clothes in hand.

Natsu pouted in the corner as he knew that he wouldn't get the two women to change their minds. "Cheer up," Reina said cheerfully. "Shirotsume Town isn't that far. It won't be a long ride."

"Any transportation ride is too long for me," Natsu muttered. He draped himself dejectedly over the back of his chair.

"Two-hundred thousand jewels…" Reina smiled, they could finally take a job that paid. They each would get fifty thousand. It would be fine for Reina as she would only have thirty thousand left over, but they would have to take another job right away when they got back. Since Lucy would be needing more money for her rent.

"Lucy!" Reina called. "Are you ready?"

"Almost!"

Reina sighed but turned her attention to Natsu. "So." She drawled.

Natsu turned his head to meet Reina's gaze. "What?"

"Was there any _real_ reason why you wanted Lucy to join us?" She smirked, thinking back on Gray's words.

He stared at her. "It would've been mean if we left her to fend for herself." He said it flatly as if Reina should have known it.

"I was on my own for five years before you and I ran into each other on jobs." She pointed out.

"But you _wanted_ to go solo." Natsu returned. "You were an oddball when you first came to the guild."

"_Thanks_."

"I'm ready!" Lucy bounded out the door, fully changed.

"Finally." Reina stood up "Shall we go?"

Natsu slowly lifted himself and turned around, a smile on his face. "You still haven't called Happy, Master!" Reina couldn't help smile as Lucy began shrieking at Natsu.

-x-

"Are you feeling _well_, _master_." Lucy purred out. Natsu could only moan and shudder as she continued to wreak vengeance on him.

"I'm role-playing as your master!" Happy cried out indignantly.

"Shut up, cat!" Lucy retorted.

"You shouldn't speak to your 'master' that way, Lucy."

"Not you too, Reina!"

"Lucy's a bad maid!" Happy said. "I think I'll fire her."

"_You never hired me_!"

"Are we there yet?" Natsu barely managed to groan.

"_No_!" Three voices roared at him in unison. He gave another groan.

"It seems like an easy job, though." Lucy switched gears.

"Now you're interested? You didn't seem to like the job." Happy said.

"It's my first official job!" Lucy smiled. "I'll do my best." But Reina saw the uneasiness in her eyes. "All I have to do is sneak into his mansion and grab that book, right?"

"That's all there is to it, really." Reina turned to look at Lucy. For most of the ride she had been curled up in the corner.

"It'll be a cinch!" The blonde confidently exclaimed. Tucking her arms under her chest, she gently pushed her breasts upwards. "I'm pretty confident in my sex appeal."

"From a cat's point of view, I don't see it." Happy spoke flatly.

"Didn't that man only give you a thousand jewel discount in Harujion?" Reina smirked. According to Loke, Lucy may be well endowed but she gave off an air of naïve cuteness and she was nowhere near the sultry sexiness of Erza.

Lucy frowned. "Let me make this straight, since _I'm_ doing most of the work, we're splitting the reward 7:1:1:1."

"Are you okay with taking one?"Happy asked seriously.

"I'm taking seven!" Lucy snapped.

Reina frowned, "It doesn't work that way, Lucy. We're splitting the reward four-way. That's fifty thousand jewels each." Lucy was about to open her mouth but Reina cut her off, "Once we get back we can take a better and higher paying job, that way you'll be able to pay your rent on time."

"Why are we splitting it evenly? You don't pay as much rent as I do."

"We're a _team_, we divide the reward evenly. Besides, I need to pay for food." Reina glared evenly.

"Reina, you don't spend thirty thousand on food alone!" Happy exclaimed. "She spends more money on her clothes than on food."

"_Really_?" Lucy raised an eyebrow as she sniggered.

"_Thanks_ Happy." Reina said sarcastically. Ignoring Happy's 'aye' she defended herself. "It's not that much, just a little more than the average person. She felt her cheeks redden as Lucy's and Happy's 'uh-huh' reached her ears.

The carriage halted and Natsu sprang to life. "It stopped!"

"We're here?" Lucy wondered as they all hopped out to feel the sun's warm rays cover them. Spread out before them was the small town of Shirotsume. In the distance, Reina could make out a mansion. _That must be the Duke of Evaroo's mansion._

"I'm hungry!" Natsu whined. "Let's go get food!"

"Why don't you just eat your own fire?" Lucy asked.

Natsu stopped abruptly and looked somewhat offended. "Would you eat Plue or that bull? Or would Reina eat her own bones?"

"They're not _my_ bones." Reina muttered.

"So… you can't eat your own fire?" Lucy sighed, but a flash of shock crossed her face. "Oh! I just remembered that I need to go somewhere, so why don't you go eat. Let's go, Reina!"

"Why do I have to go?" She whined.

Lucy eyed her evilly as she hooked arms with her. "It's a girl outing!"

"Natsu, help me!" The dark-silver-haired girl wailed as Lucy dragged her along with a surprising steel-like grip.

Natsu just frowned. "It's more fun if we eat together," he mumbled but he and Happy set out for the restaurant, ignoring Reina completely.

"Jerk!" Reina yelled after him.

"I thought you _liked_ shopping for clothes?" Lucy asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I do but clothes shopping whileon a job?" Reina asked and shook herself free of Lucy's grip. "Can I ask why?"

Grinning, Lucy turned around. "I need a maid outfit."

Reina's jaw dropped. "Are you _serious_?" She squeaked. She thought she and Natsu were joking when they asked Lucy to dress as a maid and sneak in.

"Of course I'm serious." Lucy scoffed.

"Is there even a place that sells maid costumes _here_?" Reina asked, bewildered. Her question was answered as they came across a _costume store_. If her jaw wasn't connected to her skull then it would have been on the ground.

The two women entered, it was small, to say in the least but the inside was completely filled with every costume imaginable. There were even some racks of clothes that where on the walls. The two Fairy Tail mages looked around in awe, they didn't even know where to begin to look for a maid outfit.

"Oh my dearies! Welcome, welcome!" A tall, gangly man waltzed up to them; he looked at the two women in delight. "I, Signor Aldo, humbly welcome you to my beloved store, _La Passione del tuo Cuore_!" (1) He said or squealed out, Reina couldn't tell. "My store offers any and all costumes for the costumer's pleasure; all of your wishes will come true by donning one of my spectacular pieces."

Both women stared at him, at a loss for words. "Er…" Reina trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable. The way 'Signor Aldo' was talking about the costumes made it seem like… "This isn't," she hesitated, "one of those perverse stores, is it?"

Signor Aldo looked at her and smiled, "Ahh… Signorina, if that is what you are looking for, I shall direct you to it." In an instant the man was beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "By your style of dress, you must be into the—"

"_No_." Reina interrupted firmly and jerked out of his grasp. "I'm _not_ interested." She jerked her head towards Lucy, who was still standing and gaping at him. "_S__he_ needs a maid outfit, and she's _applying_ for a job as one."

He turned on Lucy. "Signorina, of course!" He beamed down at her. "I shall lead you to the most exquisite maid outfits ever, and you shall become a cleaning beauty!" Signor Aldo whisked poor Lucy away, leaving Reina to hurry after them. "Might I ask why a bellezza like you needs to apply for a maid's job?"

"Uh… I'm applying for a position at the Duke's Mansion." Lucy stammered.

The tall man stopped abruptly, almost forcing Reina to run into the two. He looked at Lucy strangely. "The Duke?" Tilting his head, he frowned and pointed a slender finger to a corner of the store. "Maid costumes are over there, ciao." With that, he spun on his heel and waltzed off.

Once again, the two were speechless. "I'm still in shock that a store like this exists _here_." Reina muttered.

"Why did he storm off like that?" Lucy wondered. "Was it something to do with the Duke?"

"Nah," Reina shrugged her suspicions and worries off. "I think he was late for a manicure appointment. Did you _see_ his nails?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "At least he's gone. I'm shuddering to think what would happen if he was around to look at maid outfits with us."

Reina snorted and then laughed. "That would be horrible." Her voice took on a higher pitch, attempting imitate him. "That would be _lovely_ on you, try this _one_, my dear. You'll look absolutely stunning when you say "yes master" in this."

Lucy joined her in laughter and together they headed towards the section that Signor Aldo pointed out. Her eyes lit up when they came across many different styles of maid costumes. "There's so many," she squealed.

"Why are you so happy about finding a maid costume?" Reina shuddered at the thought of wearing a costume like _that._ Absently, she pulled out a costume that was accented with frilly lace. "I mean, what's the point of cleaning in something like this?"

"I don't know," Lucy replied as she pulled out another was that low-cut in the front. "How 'bout this?" She held the piece in front of her, modeling it for Reina.

The other girl shook her head, "it's too low-cut for you." Both girls put the costumes they had back, and pulled out another. Lucy had grabbed another low-cut one but it had a shorter skirt than the other; they both made a face at it and Reina lifted the one she grabbed. It was cute, even Reina had to admit, and it was the perfect size for Lucy.

"I like it!" Lucy approved as she grabbed it. "I'll look good in this." With the outfit and accessories in tow, Lucy flounced off to pay for it and change clothes.

Reina knelt down and grabbed the maid costume that Lucy dropped and placed it back on the rack. "That didn't take long." Honestly, she had expected Lucy to be one of the picky types who had to spend _hours_ looking at a piece of clothing; turning around she noticed Lucy disappearing into one of the dressing rooms. _I guess I shouldn't put Lucy into any boxes, she's full of surprises._

"Reina! I need some help." Lucy called as she opened her door.

"What?" She asked as she walked up to the blonde.

"I need help with my hair." Lucy motioned to her hair and said. "I want to put them into pigtails."

"Sure." Reina nodded and proceeded to part her hair and pull them into little pigtails.

Umm… Reina?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for coming with me." Lucy muttered and pink colored her cheeks.

"Uhh, okay?" Reina replied uncertainly. This was odd; did Lucy really think that she wouldn't have come? Then a thought struck her, Lucy _was_ eager to do her best on the mission. "You want to prove yourself." It was a statement.

"I don't want to be the one to drag everyone down." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Of course you won't," Reina admonished but then her voice took a softer tone, mirroring Mira's gentleness. "In a team we support one another. Nakama are there for a reason, Lucy." Gently, she finished tying Lucy's hair up. "You'll see why, someday."

"Yeah…" Lucy trailed off quietly. With a small shake of her head, she leapt back into business mode. "We can't waste time! Let's go meet up with Natsu." And just like that, the cheery Lucy was back. "Oh, Reina! When we get back, we'll have to go shopping together, I'm determined to find something _colorful_ for you."

Reina shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, I guess." And with that they exited the shop, but the hairs on Reina's neck rose slightly as she could feel the eyes of Signor Aldo on the both of them. Ignoring it, she said, "They'll probably be in the closest restaurant from where we got off the carriage."

"Like that one?" Lucy pointed down the way to a restaurant, it was sort of out of the way but it had a sign that read: _Open Terrace Restaurant._

"Probably."

Lucy was right; the moment they entered they heard loud munching noises from a corner table. Distantly they heard Natsu speak, "let's save the fatty stuff for Lucy!"

"Aye, she looks like she likes fatty foods!" Happy said in agreement.

"Since when do I look like I like fatty foods?" Lucy asked, making their presence known.

"Lucy?" Natsu and Happy looked at the blonde clad in a maid uniform oddly.

"I look good in anything, don't I?" She stated, "How is your meal, sir? If you're still working on it, please take your time." She didn't waste time getting into character.

Looks of horror played across the boys' faces and then turned to each other and whispered loudly. "I was joking but she took the maid idea seriously!" Natsu whispered.

"We can't tell her it was a joke now, let's j-just go along with it." Happy whispered back.

_So they _were_ joking_. Reina thought and Lucy fumed with anger. "Did you know it was a joke?" She whirled around to glare at Reina.

"I dunno." Reina said uneasily. "It could have been a joke or a serious idea… Who knows?" She laughed nervously.

What did it matter? It was a good plan to send Lucy in as a maid. Sneaky too, after all, Natsu had an _unfortunate habit_ of ruining all stealth missions.

"Let's just go." Lucy growled.

"Aww, but I'm hungry!"

"Eat when we get back!"

-x-

The four mages beheld the sight of the mansion in front of them; it practically towered over them all. "Is this the Duke of Evaroo's mansion?" Lucy asked.

"No, it's the client's mansion." Natsu replied as he went up to the door and pounded his fist against the wood.

"To pay two-hundred thousand jewels as a reward, he has to be rich." Lucy mused aloud.

The door of the mansion opened only a sliver and someone must have spoken to Natsu because he proclaimed, "We're the mages from Fairy Tail—"

As Reina moved closer she heard the voice from the door hiss, "_Please be quiet_! I'm sorry, but can you come in through the back door?" Before any of them could reply the door shut with a small _snap_.

"Well, I guess we could…" Reina scratched her head, _what was that all about?_

-x-

Inside, Reina couldn't help but notice that the entire place seemed to be _empty_. Sure, it had expensive decorations but it didn't feel like a rich person's mansion. "I'm sorry about earlier, I'm the client, Kirby Melon." A tall man greeted them, he gestured to the woman behind him, wearing a simple striped dress. "This is my wife."

As they all took a seat around a table, Reina studied the couple, eyebrows furrowed. These two… They didn't look like the belonged in a mansion for the rich at _all_. Mr. Melon's appearance looked shoddy and his wife had simple taste. She had never met rich people like _this _before.

Mr. Melon began to speak. "I'm surprised that mages from a famous guild like Fairy Tail would accept this job."

"We were surprised that such a good job was still available." Natsu gave his usual grin to Mr. Melon.

Both Reina and Lucy were looking around the room, both deep in thought. But they paid attention the moment Mr. Melon said, "Let's talk about the work."

"There is only one thing I'm asking you to do: the one and only copy of _Day Break_ that the Duke owns please destroy it."

"So, we don't have to steal it?" Natsu asked.

"I'm asking you to destroy someone's possession without their permission. It's the same as stealing." Mr. Melon said.

_Destroy a _book? Reina thought. "I thought you wanted us to recover a book that he stole from you." She frowned.

"Destroy it huh…" Natsu laughed. "How 'bout I burn the mansion down?"

"That'll be easy." Happy put his two cents in.

"You can't do that!" Lucy admonished the two. She turned her attention back to the client. "Besides, what is that book?"

"Who cares?" The pink-haired boy interrupted, "We're getting two-hundred thousand from this job!"

"No," Mr. Melon spoke. "The fee has been raised to two million."

"W-what?" Four unanimous voices choked out.

Mr. Melon politely asked at the sight of four shocked faces staring at him in disbelief. "You didn't know that the reward was raised?"

"Two million divided by four…" Natsu began to count on his fingers but he quickly gave up. "I can't even calculate it."

Happy said, "It's easy, Natsu gets one million, I get one million, and Lucy and Reina get the rest!"

"Wow, you're smart, Happy!"

"That leaves nothing left for me!"

"Wow…" Reina clenched a fist, trying to swallow her excitement. "Five-hundred thousand each." She could see it now and she was _so_ eating out somewhere when they got back.

"S-so why did you increase it?" Lucy asked, still shell-shocked.

A look of resentment passed over their client's face. "That book _needs_ to be destroyed. I can't forgive its existence."

_Huh?_ Lucy looked at him with interest while Reina merely raised an eyebrow, _I can sense a story behind this._

"I'M BURING WITH PASSION!" Natsu roared as flames erupted all around him. "Let's go!" His hand encircled Lucy's wrist in a firm grip and all but ran out.

"Shall we go Happy?" Reina asked the cat.

"Aye!" The last two ran out the door after Natsu and Lucy.

-x-

Compared to Mr. Melon's mansion, the Duke's mansion was even bigger. Lucy was currently standing there with an apprehensive expression. "I-I don't know…" She whispered.

"It'll be fine." Reina put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just go and work this "charm" of yours."

While Lucy walked up the front gate, the other three companions hid behind a tree. "Do your best Lucy!" Natsu whispered.

"Good luck!" Happy followed up.

_You can do it, Lucy!_ Reina silently cheered from her spot behind the tree. She almost fell over when something popped up from the ground. But she _did_ fall over at the sight of the large woman who landed on the ground next to the hole. _Good God…_She scrambled to hide behind the tree again.

Cautiously, she peeked out from behind the tree and watched the Duke as he also popped out of the hole. Since they were too far away to hear anything, Reina could only watch as the Duke of Evaroo looked over Lucy. Almost immediately he turned away and Lucy's face became a look of shock. The large maid woman (if you could call her that) picked up Lucy and she looked at something beyond Reina's sight with a look of absolute shock mixed with horror. Then the large maid threw Lucy out towards the tree where her three teammates were hiding.

"You're useless." Natsu stated, arms crossed, as he looked over at the sight of a depressed Lucy (she changed back into her normal clothes) moping against a tree.

"His sense of beauty is warped!" Lucy wailed.

"An excuse." Happy said.

"I don't know; that gorilla maid was pushing it." Reina scratched her head. She shuddered at the image of the large woman in that _small_ uniform lingering in her mind. There were just _some_ things in the world that shouldn't be allowed and _that_ was one of them.

"Doesn't matter. Now, we change to Plan B: Operation Charge!" Natsu cracked his knuckles.

"I'll never forgive that pervert." Lucy hissed venomously; clearly she was still irked about the job rejection personally, especially after seeing what she called the weirdest looking maids in the world.

"How are we going to get in there?" Reina asked, stopping Natsu in his tracks.

He was silent for a moment but then an idea struck him. "Happy can fly us up to the roof!"

"That just might work; we can probably find a window where we can sneak in." Reina mused, "Happy?"

"Aye!" Happy sprouted his wings and Natsu, of course, was the first one to be carried up to the roof, then Reina, and finally Lucy.

"Why do we have to sneak in?" Natsu groaned.

"Because we're robbing him." Reina told him.

"But the charge part of Operation Charge means we go up to the front entrance and blow everyone away." Natsu protested.

"No." Lucy cut in. "He may be a pervert but he's the town's most influential person. He's not a villain. If we screw this up, the military will take action."

"She's right." Reina added. "I don't think Master will be particularly _pleased_ if he got a complaint from the military and council if we injured the Duke." She knew that Master could only ignore the council for so long until they took drastic measures against him. Sooner or later, Fairy Tail would be at risk to be disbanded forcefully.

Natsu complained a bit more but eventually melted a window pane and the four of them snuck into someplace that looked like a storage room. "I would never imagine the Duke having a place like this in his home." Lucy said as she surveyed the random object cluttering the room.

"Shh… We need to be as quiet as we can." Reina said as she plucked the jack-in-the-box that Natsu held out of his hands. "No distractions."

Happy opened the door leading to the hallway and looked around. "No one's around." He commented.

Lucy and Natsu proceeded to crouch against hallway wall and slink to the next door. Reina couldn't help but roll her eyes but proceeded to follow suit. "Are we going to check _every_ single room?" Natsu asked.

"_Yes_." Lucy hissed back.

"Isn't it faster to just ask someone where the book is?"

"We'll just complete the mission without getting noticed, just like a ninja." Lucy told him.

"A ninja?" Natsu perked up. "That sounds cool…" He trailed off, most likely fantasizing about ninjas.

"_Intruders detected_!" Reina let out a yelp of shock as five maids appeared out of nowhere. Lucy was right; the Duke's sense of beauty was _warped_!

"Dammit!" Reina hissed; their job was going to get complicated.

In an instant Natsu had performed a sweeping kick and successfully knocked all the maids out of the air and onto the ground, a one-hit KO. "We can't let them find us just yet." Natsu spoke, his voice muffled. He had wrapped his scarf around his face, covering the lower portion of the face.

"I'd think they'd find us after that ruckus." Lucy sighed. "Quick!" She grabbed Natsu and hauled him to one of the doors. "Someone may have heard, we need to hide!"

Miraculously, the room that they hid in was the library. What better place to find the book they were to destroy? "For a pervert, he sure has a lot of books." Lucy said to herself as she pulled a random book out of the shelf and examined it.

"No kidding." Reina browsed a section of books. Much to her disgust; a lot of them were perverted books. _And with his strange sense of women, I don't __even_want_ to know the details of those books._

"I found a golden book!" Natsu whooped.

True enough, the book he was holding was gold in color and stamped across the front were the words: _Day Break_. "We found it already?" Lucy gasped. "Are we even allowed to find it this quickly?"

"Let's burn it!" Natsu grinned.

"Wait!" Lucy shrieked and yanked it out of his hands. "Kemu Zaleon wrote this book?" She stared in awe at the book.

"Who's he?" Reina and Natsu asked simultaneously.

"He was a mage as well as a writer." Lucy answered, never taking her eyes off the book. "I'm a big fan of his. I thought I read all of his works. Does this mean that this was unpublished?"

"That's nice, let's burn it." Reina said flatly.

"We can't burn it! It's cultural heritage!" Lucy hugged the book to her chest, as if protecting it.

"You're abandoning your job." Happy told her shortly.

"Didn't I say I was a big fan of his?" Lucy growled. "Why don't we say we burned the book and I'll keep it, instead?"

"I don't like to lie to clients." Natsu stated.

"But this is the only copy in the world. If you burn it, _I_ can't read it!" Lucy protested again.

"So that's what all those mages were after." The four turned their attention the Duke of Evaroo who popped out of another hole in the ground. "I was a genius to allow you to do whatever you wanted!" He let out a laugh that sounded a lot like 'boyoyo'.

"This is what happens when you hesitate!" Reina scolded Lucy as she went into a defensive position.

"So the mages were looking for that worthless book." The round man landed on the floor and leered at the intruders in his house, tweaking his mustache as he did so.

"S-so, I can keep the book then?" Lucy's voice was filled with hope as she looked at the book in adoration.

"No. Regardless of the books worthlessness, it still belongs to me. Give it back, ugly."

"All we have to do is burn it and be done with it." Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

"But I want to keep it!" Lucy wailed.

"_Lucy_!" Natsu snapped, he looked at her, almost ferociously. "It's our _job_ to destroy it!"

"Then at least let me read it." Lucy retorted and sank to the ground and opened the book.

"_Here_?" Natsu, Reina, and the Duke squawked.

"How _dare_ you touch something that belongs to me?" The Duke roared, outraged. "Come Vanish Brothers!"

Behind them, a hidden doorway was opening. "Fancy." Reina muttered as two figures appeared. One was very tall with dark, poofy hair and a large beak nose. While the other was shorter with on a long braid at the back of his head but he had a large skillet attached to his back.

"It's finally time for business." The shorter one said.

"Mama will get angry if we don't get paid for our work." The other said.

The first one spoke again, "good afternoon."

"So these brats are from Fairy Tail?" The taller one said.

"They're from the mercenary guild, The Southern Wolves!" Happy pointed at the emblem the two had tied to their arms.

"So he hired guys like that?" Reina said out loud.

"Prepare to die!" The round man was speaking. "Southern Wolves are always hungry!"

The two mercenaries stared murderously at the three mages who stared murderously back… except for Lucy, who was still sitting in the corner and reading the book, ignoring the unspoken death threats going through the room.

"Retrieve that book at once!" The Duke shouted.

"Bring it!" Reina roared.

She jumped, however, when Lucy sprang to life and ran for the door. "Natsu, Reina, buy me some time! This book has a secret!" She disappeared through the door.

"Okay…?" Natsu said.

"Change of plans!" The Duke spun into the ground headfirst, digging a hole. "I'll go get that one. Obliterate those two brats!"

"I hate selfish clients." The bald one with the large skillet spoke.

"Happy, Reina, could you go after Lucy?" Natsu asked as he rotated his shoulder, "I'll take care of these two."

"You sure you don't want backup?" Reina tilted her head.

"Just myself will be enough."

"Why you, bastard. I'm gonna tell Mama!" The tall one said as he moved to attack. The other one held out his arm, stopping his comrade from taking another step.

Happy flew away and Reina stood there, pondering. "Are you _sure_?" She asked, she really did want to fight for a bit.

"Go."

"Fine." Reina ran, full tilt for the secret passageway behind Natsu's opponents.

"I won't let you!" The bald one said and moved to intercept her.

She took a flying leap and used the bald man's head as a springboard and flipped over him and continued for the door. "Don't destroy the place too much!" She shouted over her shoulder as she disappeared.

-x-

The tall one said, "That brat, going past us like that."

"I'm your opponent, aren't I?" Natsu taunted.

"Bring it, fire mage!" Bald man said.

"Huh, how'd you know that?"

The taller one spoke, "we saw everything on the surveillance crystal. The blonde girl was a key holder type, a Stellar Spirit Mage with seven current contracts. That cat was an ability type mage. 'Wings'."

"You melted the glass on the window, using your bare hand." The other continued, therefore, you're most likely an ability type fire mage. While there was nothing to suggest what type of magic that other girl has, it is to be assumed that she is an ability type since she had no objects on her person to suggest otherwise."

"You observed us well," Natsu remarked and his hand lit on fire, "So you're prepared to get burnt to a crisp, right?"

"Unfortunately, I will have to decline, because fire mages are the easiest opponents for me." The bald man said and he pulled his large skillet out.

"Really?" Natsu said looking bored, but then he grinned. "Then bring it on."

-x-

**Wow. Twenty pages. **_**Twenty**_**! I think that has been the longest chapter I have ever written! Well, one more chapter and I then I can start my own arc. Yay! I'm excited for that. How was this chapter? I wrote a lot of this tonight and am too lazy to look it over so there are probably some lazy mistakes in there somewhere. I'll look it over later.**

**Unfortunately, we don't get to see what Reina's magic is just yet. Sorry, but you will know soon. Anyway, I've been considered starting up another story and if you're interested go to my profile and take a look at the poll I have up. I might actually do it; it just depends on how far I go.**

**1. The Passion of your Heart, cheesy, eh?**

**Obviously, I wanted to make Signore Aldo Italian and he was kind… of eccentric? I just think he's passionate about his job. I hope that little tid-bit with the perverse store didn't offend anyone **_**too**_** much, well, it is rated T after all.**


	5. A Mage's Strength

**5/15/13: This chapter has been edited. Nothing changed much except for some spelling and grammar mistakes.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

Even though she was supposed to find Lucy, Reina ultimately found herself lost. She didn't have a clue where Lucy went and Happy had gone in a different direction and the mansion was so big. "Where am I?" Reina wondered out loud.

She had ended up in a long hall filled with self-portraits of the Duke. Reina took a glance at one and then pushed the corner, making it crooked.

In the distance she heard crashes coming from where she left Natsu. _He's must be having fun._ She thought glumly. It seemed like _forever_ since she had a good fight.

"What's this?" She arrived at a plain wooden door. It seemed so out of place, Reina thought as she approached it. Placing a cautious hand on the door she opened it and was rewarded with a large circular room. There were many more paintings of the Duke and there was a large desk in the center.

"This must be his office." Reina mused as she stepped through. She shrugged. "Can't hurt to take a look around." She approached the desk and sat down in the squishy chair and began to open drawers at random.

She cringed inwardly when she discovered some of his perverse books and closed the drawer quickly. In another, she found miscellaneous items but the true prize was when she found plenty of documents filled with the Duke's doings in the past few years.

Thumbing through it, the female mage gained quite a bit of insight of the man's business. _Illegal dealings? Using his power to silence anyone with the threat of their citizenship being revoked?_ Reina shook her head. "His entire operation is illegal. If anyone of intellect came by and took a slight look, he'd be locked up in an instant."

Bringing the paper close to her, she stood up. "I think I'll just take these with me."

-x-

It was good fortune that Lucy managed to find the sewers underneath the house. Why there were sewers underneath the _Duke's_ house, she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to read _Day Break_ and fast.

Donning a pair of wind reading glasses, she sat on the ground and began to read through the book at top speed. As each page passed, the puzzle concerning the book became clearer and clearer. Once she was done she closed the book and sighed. "I knew it, there was something hidden in the book."

Lucy looked wistfully at it. "I can't destroy this. I have to return it to Mr. Melon." She stood up and pocketed her glasses and reached for her keys.

"Boyoyoyo, you're such an avid reader." Lucy didn't have time to react when a pair of hands griped her arms and pulled them back painfully. Her keys clattered to the floor. "What did you find?" The Duke asked as his head popped out of the wall.

"Y-you," Lucy breathed angrily. "You're an enemy of literature."

"You're calling a great, educated man like _me_ an enemy of literature?" He fumed as he increased the pressure on Lucy's arm ever so slightly.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Lucy countered. "An educated man would never have a bunch of weird maids."

"Don't insult my beautiful maids!" The Duke roared and the pressure increase. "What was in the book? A treasure map? A hidden fortune? _Tell me_!"

Lucy didn't answer him. Instead she gazed down at her keys, trying to formulate a plan to get them back. "I'll break your arms," he threatened. Lucy had enough, she stuck her tongue out at him which only angered the Duke even more.

"Answer me, dammit! I made Kemu Zaleon write that book for me so the secret is mine too!"

He made Kemu Zaleon… write _Day Break_? Lucy looked at him, shocked. The Duke realized his mistake but before either of them could say anything, a blue blur flew into the Duke's arm causing him to let go of both of Lucy's arms.

"Thank you Happy!" Lucy exclaimed as she picked up her keys. Happy did nothing but say 'Aye!' and jump into the water. "Why don't you come out of there?"

"The water feels good."

Lucy almost argued with him but she returned her attention to situation at hand. Pointing at him with a key she said smugly, "the tables have turned. If you give me this book, I _might_ just forgive you."

"Boyoyoyo, Stellar Spirit magic?" He guffawed. "You say you're a fan of literature but shouldn't you use that phrase when your position has turned from one of disadvantage to advantage?"

"Yeah, I'd say she has it correct." A new voice cut in as a dark blur slammed into his back and then flipped over his fallen form. Reina had joined the fray. "I finally found you, Luce."

Lucy couldn't help feel secretly relieved when her friend showed up. "What took you so long?" She attempted to joke.

"I got lost," Reina drawled. "But I did manage to find something _interesting_." She flipped through the stack of papers she was holding.

-x-

"You insolent brats!" The Duke shrieked as he stood up, almost immediately he dove back into the ground. "You'll never be able to defeat my diver magic."

"So he is a mage," Reina commented as Lucy dodged an attack from below.

"This book is an awful adventure novel with Evaroo as the main character but the contents is crap!" The Duke was saying. "It's outrageous to think that Kemu Zaleon wrote such a piece of crap."

"You forced him to write it!" Lucy countered as the two women dodged his attacks.

"It should've been an honor for him to write about me." He said smugly.

"You threatened him!"

"It's his own fault for refusing in the first place." He smiled wickedly. "I allowed him to write a book with the wonderful me as the main character. But he rejected the offer. _So_, I told him I would revoke the citizenship of all of his relatives if he refused again."

_Just like he does with everyone else he deals with._ Reina thought angrily. It sickened her that a man like him had that kind of power. If anyone had their citizenship taken away from them they wouldn't be able to join merchant or workmen guilds. Their job opportunities would shrink drastically.

"In the end he gave in and wrote it." The Duke said gleefully as he managed to latch onto Lucy's ankle. "Because he rejected it the first time made me so angry, I made him write it in a solitary cell. His pride as a writer was crushed!"

Lucy kicked at his hand with her free foot. "He was fighting to save his family, and his writer's pride would never allow him to write a book about _you_!" Lucy shouted.

"How do you know so much, Lucy?" Reina asked as she stepped next to her friend, her eyes trained on the Duke who popped out of a hole again.

"It's all written in this book." Lucy smirked.

"I read that book, Kemu Zaleon never appeared in it." The duke was confused.

"If you read it in a normal way, it's just a disappointing book. But, Kemu Zaleon was a _mage_ and he used the last of this power to cast a spell on the book." Lucy explained triumphantly.

"W-what?" He squawked. His eyes began to bug out of his head. "Would his grudge show up in the book after the magic was released?"

"You're so disgustingly shallow." Lucy spoke. "The magic will complete the book, but Kemu Zaleon left _something else_. The real truth is something else. That's why," She pulled out a key. "I won't let you have it! Open! A Door to the Crab: Cancer!"

A very tall man appeared wearing leather pants and a striped shirt. He had crab legs on his back and was carrying scissors.

"Crab!" Happy shrieked in joy. "I'll bet he says _kani_ at the end of his sentences, I know it!"

"Shut up." Lucy muttered.

"Lucy," Cancer spoke as he turned to her. "What kind of hairstyle would you like today-_ebi_?"

Reina choked down a laugh at Happy's expression to learn that Cancer ended his sentences with _ebi_ (shrimp) instead of _kani_ (crab). Returning her attention to their opponent, who was undoubtedly thinking that the writer had written about his illegal business. "I seriously doubt that Kemu guy would write about you in that true book." She held up the papers for him to see. "I managed to find your office earlier. Y'know, you shouldn't leave incriminating evidence lying around for anyone to just pick up."

She swore she saw steam rising from the man's face, he was that red. "You _brats_!" He howled as he whipped out a _key._ "Open: A door to the Virgin." _Uh-oh_. He used Stellar Spirit Magic. "Virgo!"

This time, Reina _did_ fall over when the Virgo turned out to be that very large gorilla maid. "You're kidding."

"_She's_ a Stellar Spirit?" Lucy said dumbstruck.

"The hell?" Reina screamed as she looked above Virgo. Everyone else followed suit; Natsu of all people was holding onto the Spirit's shirt. How did he get here?

"Why are you with Virgo?" The Duke gaped.

"She started to move all of a sudden." Natsu explained. "So I followed her and ended up here."

"You didn't follow her, you grabbed onto her!" Lucy shouted. "Don't tell me you passed through the Stellar Spirit world? But that's impossible!"

"Screw that!" Reina shouted from her position on the floor, "Natsu! That gorilla is our enemy!"

"Oh she is, is she?" Natsu punched the Spirit right in the face, knocking her down.

Lucy took that opportunity to send out her whip, wrapping it around the Duke. Mustering all her strength she sent him flying, right at Cancer. "You shouldn't be more than a supporting character!" Lucy shouted as Cancer landed a blow on the man.

"You need to working on your battle cries." Reina told her as she stood up; dusting herself off. _Another battle where I wasn't able to do much, I'm beginning to get frustrated._

Cancer cut all of the Duke's hair off and turned to Lucy. "How do you like that haircut-_ebi_?"

Lucy smiled as she clenched the book to her; Reina walked up to her and put an arm around her. "You did awesome, a true mage of Fairy Tail."

"Thank you." Lucy whispered gratefully.

"So, do we destroy the book now?" Natsu asked as his hand lit up.

"No, we need to return it to Kirby-san." Lucy said as she headed for the stairs.

Before Reina followed her nakama up the stairs she tucked the papers she found underneath the Duke. "I think the authorities would be interested in what you've been doing."

After that she took her leave.

-x-

Half an hour later they where sitting in front of Kirby and his wife again. Lucy held out the book for him to take it.

"Didn't I ask you to destroy it?" Kirby asked.

"You can do it yourself, Kirby-san. It's not that hard."

A frown adorned his face as he snatched the book out of her hands. "Then I'll incinerate it. I don't even want to look at it."

Lucy spoke again, "I understand why you hate it. You want to protect your father's pride. Kemu Zaleon was your father, wasn't he?"

That explains it, Reina mused from her spot on the couch. She watched the exchange in silence; Kirby had berated his father when he came home. His father had just given him mysterious answers and blatantly told him _Day Break_ was a piece of trash. He lit a match and held it close to the book, hoping that the destruction of the book would restore his father's lost pride.

Instead the book began to glow and the words 'Day Break' floated off the cover. _Classic._ Reina thought as Lucy cleared the confusion. "Zekua Melon wrote this book under the alias Kemu Zaleon and cast a spell on this book." She explained.

The letters rearranged themselves and settled back onto the book, it now read: _Dear Kaby_. "The spell includes everything in the book." Lucy finished as the book opened and all of the words flew out surrounded everyone.

"Pretty." Reina commented as she poked an 'L'.

"He quit being a writer not because he wrote the worst book in existence, but because he wrote the best book in existence." The words began to return to the book, "A book filled with letters to you, Kaby." The book closed and Kaby was left staring at the book, dumbstruck.

"Dad…" He whispered. Opening the book he took in some of the words his Father left behind; tears escaped him. "I never understood you, did I?"

"Of course not!" Lucy playfully admonished. "If you understood a writer's mind then you can't enjoy their books."

"Thank you." He said sincerel., "I can't burn this now."

"Then that means we won't be taking the reward either." Natsu said.

"What?" Reina yelped as she stood up.

"We were asked to destroy the book and we obviously didn't do that." Natsu explained.

"W-we can't do that." Kaby spoke.

"Yeah, let's think of it as a generous offering." Lucy backed up Reina and Kaby.

"No kidding, its two million jewels!" Reina said.

"I said we don't want it, so we don't want it!" Natsu smiled cheerily.

"But _I_ want it!" Reina and Lucy wailed at the same time.

"Let's go!" Natsu ignored them and headed for the door, "Kaby-san, you should go back to your own home as well."

"What?"

-x-

On the way back home, Reina and Lucy were still grumbling about the money they lost. "I have no money to pay for food and you _know_ I hate having tabs, Natsu!" Reina complained.

"I still can't believe he turned down two _million_ jewels!" Lucy grumbled.

"If we accept money for doing something we didn't complete it'll taint Fairy Tail's name." Was Natsu's retort.

Of course they wouldn't have gotten two million. Since Kaby and his wife weren't rich. They had borrowed the house from a friend to use as their façade of a rich man who could pay two million. Natsu had known from the beginning since his sense of smell was better then the average person's. "They smelled different from the house." Natsu had said.

"So did Melon write about his adventures as a mage?" Reina asked Lucy.

"I think so. He joined a guild when he was young."

"Aha!" Natsu stopped and turned to Lucy, "those papers! You're writing a book aren't you?"

"A book?" Reina asked

"Don't tell anyone!" Lucy screamed as her face flushed.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a writing type…" Reina mused.

As Natsu and Lucy continued to argue about Lucy's writing, Reina followed them with a small smile on her face. _What a cute couple._

**-**x**-**

**Yeah, it's short. But, on the brighter side, something completely different. Yay. And we'll finally be able to learn what Reina's magic is! Until next time, folks!**

_Fairy Tail_ **doesn't belong to me, Reina does, however. Constructive criticism is appreciated, flames are not. Ta-ta!**


	6. Save our Town!

**5/15/13: This chapter has been edited. Nothing changed much except for spelling and grammar mistakes.**

**Well, first off I apologize for not updating in nearly two years. Even though this chapter is fairly short, I hope it makes up for it. It's an original arc and we are a bit closer to revealing Reina's magic.**

**Thanks for the reviews and—hopefully—sticking by this story for so long!**

_Fairy Tail_ **belongs to Hiro Mashima but Reina belongs to me.**

**-x-**

Lucy fidgeted uncomfortably as she examined every poster on the request board. Picking out her first job was nerve racking by itself, but the fact that her three teammates were staring at her intently from their spots next to the board just made it downright uncomfortable. "Could you not stare at me?" She muttered.

"We're waiting for you to pick one." Natsu said.

"Why don't you pick instead?" Lucy snapped.

Reina shook her head, "Since we tricked you into the last mission, we thought it would be nice to let you pick the next job."

Lucy turned back to the board, "but there're so many and all the good paying ones sound dangerous and the easy ones don't pay enough."

"Ah, 'tis the problem of the novice mage." Reina said sagely. "They can never make a choice. Might I remind you that you have rent to pay and I have no food at home?"

"I know!" Lucy groaned. Despite the fact that she won her fight against the Duke of Evaroo, she wasn't confident that she could help out her teammates if she chose a particularly dangerous mission. And if she chose a weaker mission, she was afraid that they would see her as weak.

She gasped when a pair of hands covered her eyes. "I've done this when I can't decide sometimes." Natsu said, his voice was husky and dangerously close to her ear. Lucy felt her face go red.

"N-Natsu?" She squeaked.

"Just reach out and pick one," was Natsu's reply.

Lucy complied. Hesitantly, she reached out a hand, all too aware of Natsu's toned chest and abdomen pressing against her back, and felt along for a paper. When she found one she grabbed it and pulled it off. When Natsu took his hands away from her face she leapt away from him, all the while squashing the part of her brain that had enjoyed Natsu's closeness.

"So?" Reina smirked at the blush coloring Lucy's cheeks.

"What?" Lucy snapped.

Reina only pointed at the job request clenched in Lucy's hand. "What did you pick?"

Lucy smoothed it out and read the paper, color drained from her face as Reina looked over her shoulder and read aloud. "_Save our Town! Please rid our town, Acacia, of these scoundrels who have taken over. P. discreet when coming._ Hmm, two-hundred-forty thousand? Sounds good."

"B-but," Lucy stammered. "Can I have a do-over?"

"Nope." Natsu laughed as he yanked the paper out of Lucy's hands and headed out the door.

"But I want a do-over!" Lucy wailed.

"No can do, you picked one and we got one." Reina said. "At least Acacia is about a day's walk from here. We won't need to hire a carriage."

Reina started to leave, Lucy following her and sulking about her rotten luck and the job she had picked.

-x-

Gray chuckled lightly as the two females in Natsu's team left the guild. "Natsu's one lucky bastard, eh? He managed to get two good looking cuties on his team."

"A real man doesn't complain about it," Elfman said. "A real man would go in there and sweep her off her feet."

"Ahh, maybe I could get Lucy on _my_ team," Loke said dreamily.

"I'd doubt it," Gray replied. "You'd dump her the moment you saw another girl."

"I would not!"

"A real man doesn't leave a girl in the dust."

"Shut up Elfman!" Gray and Loke yelled.

Loki turned to Gray and smirked. "Then which one do _you_ want on your team, huh Gray?"

Gray didn't answer; he simply stared at the door, where Lucy and Reina had left moments ago, his eyebrows furrowed and a thoughtful expression on his face.

-x-

"It's practically a ghost town," Lucy commented as the four walked through Acacia Town.

True enough, there seemed to be no one around, no stores were open and there weren't any people walking around. Reina looked around to make sure there weren't any tumble weeds. "Where is everybody?"

Instead of answering her question, Natsu hopped up onto a box and shouted into the silence, "HEY, WE'RE THE MAGES FROM FAIRY TAIL AND WE'VE COME TO GET RID OF THE BANDITS!"

"Subtle." Reina groaned.

"Shh! Be quiet!" Someone hissed from the shadows of an alley a small boy, around the age of eleven, poked his head out. "Follow me, and keep _quiet_." He said with an added glare at Natsu.

The mages complied and found themselves being led deeper into the town. The boy stopped outside a beaten down house, he turned to them and held a finger to his lips. "He's in there, and remember, _shh_." With that, he ran away.

Reina tilted her head. "How odd."

"The bad guys must be scary if everybody's stays in their homes." Lucy whispered, her small frame shivered slightly.

"We won't know until we go in, won't we?" Natsu said and he shoved the doors open. To his surprise several pairs of hands reached out and pulled him in!

"Nat—" Lucy cried before she was grabbed too, Reina gave a startled cry when a couple people grabbed her wrists, and Happy let out a yelp as someone seized him by the tail.

"_Shh_." Reina heard as the doors closed and a few moments of silence came along with the tension of everyone else in the room.

"Nothing." Someone at the door spoke. Immediately everyone relaxed and Reina felt the hands restraining her let go.

"What's the big idea?" She asked coolly, eying the people inside.

"Pardon us; we're trying to be careful, you see." A man descended the steps; he was young, probably in his early thirties. He wore a plain long-sleeved button-up white shirt and black slacks. His dark hair was slicked back and he wore no shoes. "There is a strict curfew on the civilians here and we were trying to make sure you didn't gain attention from Fishel or any of his cronies."

"Fishel?" Lucy questioned.

"Fishel is the leader of the Dagon gang, a group of mercenaries, bandits, cutthroats, and the like." The man explained. "He took over our mines first and then the town six months ago."

"Dagon…" Reina mused. A thought came to her, "Y'know, you should fill us in at the beginning. Who are you?"

"I'm Albert, the mayor of Acacia town." He said, bowing his head politely. "Our troubles began six months ago when Fishel arrived in town, claiming that the mines and town were under his control. Everything went downhill from there; the gang moved in and many of us were forced to work in the mines for a time until they decided that we should stay locked up in our homes."

"Mines?" Lucy asked.

"Acacia's main source of income is from our Lacrima mines." Albert explained.

"Lacrima? Are any of these guys mages?" Reina asked him. Lacrima was only useful to someone who had magic, since lacrima in its natural form was a crystal that could be charged up with magic for various uses. If you didn't have the magic to make it work, it was essentially a useless hunk of rock.

Albert shook his head. "No."

"Then why mine lachima?" Lucy questioned.

"We don't know. They made most of us stop mining it because we were learning "too much" apparently. The only thing we know is that it's going to someone called levi-something." Albert shrugged. "Since then, we haven't been allowed out of our houses unless Fishel tells us to."

"Of course, their security is pretty lax so we manage to slip by them a lot." Someone in the back spoke.

So that's why the job description mentioned discreetness. "So you want us to beat up Fishel's gang for you and kick them out of town?" Natsu asked, excited.

"Yes." Several people answered. Already hope began to shine in their eyes at the idea of having their town and mines back.

"Question." Lucy interrupted. "If these guys _aren't_ mages, why did you send this to mage guilds? Why not the mercenary guilds?"

"Well…" Albert looked thoughtful. "The Dagon gang inspects everything that leaves and enters the town, trying to get the request out would've been impossible. So we tied the request to a bird and let it fly away with it, hoping that it would reach someone."

"Is that even possible?" Happy asked, munching on a fish from who-knows-where.

"Apparently so." Another person said.

"So, beat up the bad guys, that's it?" Reina asked.

"Yes, just be careful in the mines…" He trailed off as someone called out from the outside.

"Oi, idiot mayor!"

Albert's face drained of color. "Oh no… It's Fishel!"

All at once whispers erupted around them. "He must have heard the boy when he shouted."

"Quick! We need to hide them!"

Hands grabbed the mages once again and they found themselves stuffed in a back room. "Quickly, there's room for you two on the upstairs floor." A woman pulled Lucy and Reina up another staircase. "And you, under the floor, quick!" Natsu was shoved into a hidden space beneath the floor, Happy with him.

"Be quiet!" Was all they heard before the door snapped and the front door burst open.

"Soo…" A man drawled. "One of my men heard someone shout just now. Something about mages here to save you? Care to explain, _Mr. Mayor_?"

Reina held her breath as she slowly crept over to a hole in the floor that was conveniently placed above the room below. She looked over at Lucy and mouthed, '_don't move'_. Lucy nodded and craned her neck to look out and Reina looked into the room below.

Albert was fidgeting nervously as a man, much taller than him stood in the doorway. This had to be Fishel, he had blue hair that was brushed back, and wore a long blue overcoat that was buttoned shut. The only other thing about him that Reina could make out about him was that he was wearing steel-toed boots and had an expression of boredom mixed with cruelty on his face.

"Maybe one of the children got out and decided to play, Master Fishel." Albert was saying. "You know how children can get."

"I thought we made this clear, didn't we? _No one_ leaves their houses without permission." Fishel shook his head. "I was being too lenient and I knew that many of you have snuck out of your houses to visit one another, should have laid down the law here better and squashed all thoughts of rebellion."

Reina was liking him less and less. "You see Fishel," Albert began.

"_Enough_." The man hissed. "we know that you sent for help and we know there are mages here. Now the question is: _Where are they?_"

"There are no mages here Fishel!" Albert protested.

Fishel laughed coldly. "You're not a very good liar." The man brought up his hand and… Reina's eyes narrowed, _what was that?_

"Albert!" A woman shrieked as she ran to the fallen mayor.

Albert was lying on the floor; a pool of blood was forming quickly under his prone form. What had he done? Reina snapped her head to look at Lucy. "Did you see?" She hissed.

Lucy shook her head; a cracking sound brought their attention to the room again. Fishel was standing over Albert, his foot out. He had kicked him. "Going to talk now?" Fishel sneered.

"T-th-there's no one." The fallen man choked out.

Fishel's eyes narrowed. "Wrong answer." His hand went out again—

"Hold it!" Reina silently groaned. Natsu came out of his hiding spot. He was standing in the doorway of the back room, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "I'm the mage."

"You?" Fishel turned and surveyed him, his lip curled when his gaze rested on the red mark on his shoulder. "Fairy Tail, eh?"

"That's right and I'm going to kick your ass!" Natsu flew at him, fist up and flaring, ready to punch the man right in the mouth.

Except Fishel just raised his hand again and this time, Reina _did_ see it. Some sort of clear substance-water?-shot from his hand, encasing Natsu and dousing his fire. _No, not water. It's some sort of goo._ Reina thought, the clear substance was too thick to be water.

"Wha-what is this?" Natsu growled as he attempted to struggle his way out.

Fishel laughed. "Is this all that the Fairy Tail mages are made of?" Grasping the goo in his fist he whipped Natsu into the wall and he subsequently went through the wall and hit the house next door. With a tremendous yank he sent Natsu flying back again, hitting a wall.

_Natsu…_ Reina clenched a fist at the sight of her teammate being thrown around like a rag doll. Beside her, Lucy was trembling in fear and she gasped softly and shuddered violently every time Natsu's body hit the floor. Within minutes Natsu was also lying motionless on the floor. "D-damn you…" Natsu managed to growl out as he tried to get up.

Fishel laughed and stomped on Natsu's back, pinning him down. "Tsk, tsk. I was hoping for a bit of a challenge. _Oh well_." He held out a hand again and the goo encased Natsu. Fishel lifted Natsu up in the air. "I hope this teaches you people that calling for help is useless and now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take the trash out." He sneered at them one last time before leaving the house with Natsu.

Reina put a hand on Lucy's arm to keep her from bolting down the stairs and counted to ten; she released Lucy's arm and they went down the stairs. "Natsu…" Lucy whispered as tears pooled in her eyes.

"Happy?" Reina called down the hole where he had been with Natsu.

"Aye." Happy crawled out and his lip was also trembling. Reina picked him up and hugged him to her chest. She would be lying if she said Natsu wasn't the heart and soul of their team and she felt oddly lost without him around.

"It's hopeless!" A woman burst out. She was kneeling beside Albert, cradling his head. "We'll never be free."

"Don't say that." Albert whispered. "There's always hope."

"He just beat up that poor boy in a minute!" Someone else cried. "Even mages can't help us!"

Reina bristled at their attitude. "Hey!" She snapped, offended. "There're still _three_ mages from Fairy Tail here!" In Natsu's absence, she felt herself taking over as leader and she quickly became serious again. She turned to Albert. "Where're the mines? We'll go and kick their asses and save Natsu."

"You're still going to help us?" Albert asked weakly.

"_They hurt one of my nakama and they are going to pay."_ Reina growled. _"_We don't take that lightly and _n_o one gets away with that,_ever__."_

Happy perked up in her arms. "Aye!"

Lucy's blue eyes met Reina's gray ones, her tears stopped, and she smiled. "Yeah, we're going to save Natsu!"

"The mines are on the other side of town. As you get closer, there'll be more guards. Especially at the main entrance but there are side entrances. Go west and you'll find one. Hopefully it will be unguarded." Albert said; a smile on his face despite the pain he must be feeling.

"Thanks, Fairy Tail!" The woman sobbed. "We'll take care of Albert, you go rescue our home."

"We will." Reina promised and she, Lucy, and Happy left the house ready for a fight.

-x-

"I know that the mood in there was a bit infectious but do we have a plan?" Lucy asked timidly.

"Simple. We find this side entrance, sneak in, and beat them all up." Reina deadpanned.

"You're joking, right? Even Natsu couldn't defeat Fishel."

"Natsu was taken by surprise. Even though he was just captured, I think he has the best shot of beating him."

"How?"

"Fishel's magic is elemental, the best magic to combat elemental is another elemental magic." Reina explained.

"Are you saying your magic won't be good enough?"

"If Natsu is out for the count, I'll step up. It might be harder but I can do it." They ducked into a side street.

"What is your magic, anyway?" Lucy asked curiously.

At the same time, Reina and Happy shot her an eerie smile. "You'll see," Reina simply said. In a flash, the smile disappeared. "So, are we still on for beating them up?"

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a disaster?" Lucy asked herself quietly.

-x-

**And chapter six done!**

**I've decided to continue on with my original plan which is to follow the main storyline with several original arcs inserted. Hopefully, it will work out to still be enjoyable instead of just a rehashing of the series.**

**Reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated but flames are not. See ya in chapter seven! **

…**It is 4am and I'm going to bed. Night.**


	7. The Mines of Acacia

**Hey, I'm back! Sorry that this took a year. I got sidetracked with school. Thanks to all who've supported me, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! It means a lot to me!**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

Acacia felt like a ghost town more than ever now that Natsu was missing from their group. They were more subdued but that may because they were sneaking around the town. Reina, Lucy, and Happy were forced to stay in the side streets, out of the light and sight of anyone who might object to their presence. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" Lucy whispered. She clung close to Reina's back whenever they slowed down.

Reina nodded slightly. "Positive. The few people we've seen have either been going in this direction or coming from it and with security so tight here, there's only one place they could be going to." If they were lucky, they could find a way in and get to Natsu before all hell broke loose.

"Reina!" Lucy hissed and grabbed Reina's hand. "Someone's coming!" The three Fairy Tail mages ducked further back into their alley, flattening themselves against a wall.

"Did you see the idiot who came to 'defend' this town?" Someone was saying loudly. Reina's back stiffened, they were talking about Natsu.

The other person snorted, "yeah! What an idiot! He thinks he can kick us out? One little mage?" His snort turned into a gut-busting laugh.

"He's from Fairy Tail." A third person piped in. "That's the one guild that's been in the papers recently."

"Don't read the newspapers." One said and Reina strained to hear them; how close were they? "I read Weekly Sorcerer. Fairy Tail's Mirajane is in it."

"Mirajane?" The second one said, and they finally came into view. Three members of the Dagon gang were strolling along the path. "She's gorgeous!" The tall, lanky one in the middle exclaimed.

"Mmm... I know," the one of the left agreed. "I love her swimsuit photos. _Delicious._"

Reina's stomach churned at their words towards their beloved Mira. "Sick." Reina hissed and she curled her hand into a fist. She heard Lucy murmur in agreement behind her. Reina motioned to Lucy to head to the back of the alley so they could continue on; they wasted too much time hiding. Unfortunately, Lucy hit a board that was leaning against the wall and it fell down on top of the Stellar Spirit mage who yelped in surprise. "Shit!" Reina whispered as she fiercely pulled Lucy out of the rubble.

"Who's there?" One of the mercenaries shouted.

"Run!" Reina commanded and the three of them fled down the alleyway. The footsteps of their pursuers were not far behind them.

"Damn, they're fast!"

"What're we going to do?" Lucy cried.

"Keep running!" Natsu depended on them to _not_ get caught. Their entire mission would go to pot if they got caught. They skidded around a corner; Reina pivoted on her foot, her hand going up to her shoulder. "Pooka, distract them!" A bipedal skeleton the size of a horse shot away from Reina and ran towards the three men.

"What was that?" Lucy shrieked.

"Time being bought! Keep running!" Reina ordered. Behind them, shouts of confusion came from their pursuers.

"Where?" Lucy shouted to Reina.

"Anywhere but here!" Reina shouted back. There was a crashing noise and black smoke flowed back into Reina's shoulder.

They skittered around a corner. "Did we lose them?" Lucy wheezed in between breaths. Happy was clinging to her back.

"Shh." Reina peered around the corner. Pooka had given them roughly a minute and a half of time to escape but was it enough?

Footsteps pounded towards their hiding corner and Reina's insides froze. Someone was coming! "Oh shit." Reina muttered. Her right hand went to her left side and the black smoke start to creep out. "Get ready to fight." She whispered to Lucy and Happy.

"W-what?" Lucy squeaked out in terror.

The footsteps were coming closer and closer. Reina's legs tensed as she prepared for an attack. _I won't go down without a fight._ She thought stubbornly. These guys were just mercenaries like the Southern Wolves. She could take them easily.

"_Hey. Fairy Tail!_" Someone hissed behind them.

_Behind?_ Reina thought, startled. The three of them turned to see a small boy beckoning them from a door in the street. "In here." The boy motioned for them to enter. They didn't need to be told twice and bolted for the door. Reina barely made it in when the boy slammed the door shut and she heard someone turn the corner.

"Over here!" A woman grabbed Lucy and Reina and dragged them into a closet. "Keep quiet!" Reina pressed her ear against the door and listened intently.

Someone pounded at the door where they entered. "OPEN UP!" She heard the first guy shout.

"What do you want?" The boy said fiercely when the door creaked open.

"Someone was outside," one of the gang members said. "And don't try to tell me it was a towns-person, you're not allowed outside, and this person had magic." Lucy's hand found Reina's and she squeezed it tightly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The woman said coolly. "I didn't hear anyone. My son, daughter, and I have been inside all day like we're supposed to."

"Yeah!" The boy piped in. "You can't punish us for following the rules!"

"Watch me, kid!" The man snarled.

"Relax, they're not here." There was a clunking sound, like one of the gang members kicked something.

"How can you be so sure?" The first one argued. "How the hell do you explain what the thing was?"

"Clearly, there was more than one Fairy Tail mage but they ain't here so let's go. This place stinks."

"Does not!" The little boy fired back. The door slammed and Reina, Lucy, and Happy waited with baited breath. Did they fall for it?

The door opened. "It's okay to come out." It was the woman. She was slightly taller than Reina but larger. Her dress and apron were dirty and she had a smudge of flour on her cheek. She smiled at the three. "I'm Yvonne." Yvonne pointed at her son, "that's James," then she pointed at a cradle in the corner of the room, "and that's little baby Clara."

"I'm Reina." Reina introduced herself when she stepped out of the closet. Lucy and Happy followed suit. The house was small and cramped; the kitchen, dining room, and living room were one big room while a small rickety staircase probably lead up to the bedrooms. They were probably among the poorer families or they had been forced to live here because of the Dagon Gang.

"Am I to take it that you're also Fairy Tail mages who've come to save us?" Yvonne asked hopefully.

Reina nodded. "We are."

Yvonne grasped Reina's hands. "Oh thank you." She whispered. "_Thank you_." Reina smiled back at her and managed to free her hands from the elder woman's grasp.

James smiled a gap-tooth smile at the three. "Good thing I heard you guys running or else you woulda been toast!"

"Thanks." Lucy said gratefully. Happy 'ayed' in agreement.

"Are you heading for the mines?" Yvonna asked, turning serious.

"We are. Well, are we at least headed in the right direction?" Reina spoke. With running away from the members of the Dagon gang, they might've gotten lost.

"You're on the right track." Yvonna walked over to a small cabinet and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfurled it to reveal a map. Gently she spread it out over the table and the trio eagerly looked over it. "Here's where the mine is." Yvonne pointed to a spot slightly east of their current position. "However, it's heavily guarded. You won't be able to get in."

"Then what do you suggest?" Lucy looked up from the map.

James took over when Clara gave a sudden wail from her crib and Yvonne left to tend to her. "There's a side entrance." His finger traced a spot north of the mine. "Less security and you'll be able to follow the shaft to the main part of the mine." He looked up and grinned. "Sneak attack those bastards!"

"James, language!" Yvonne scolded.

"That's good." Reina said softly. "Where are we right now?" James pointed to their spot and Reina made her own map in her head. "Okay, I know where we're going now." She announced to Lucy and Happy.

"So we'll do a surprise attack and get Natsu back." Lucy mused aloud.

"Yeah if you summon Taurus, you and I'll be able to take down most of them. The only one we'll have to worry about will be Fishel." Reina replied. "But if we get Natsu back in time, he'll take Fishel out no problem."

"But Fishel beat Natsu so easily!" Lucy protested.

"Don't worry!" Reina smiled encouragingly. "Natsu was just caught off guard." It would work. They'd get Natsu and beat the crap out of Fishel and his gang. Job done and Reina would have enough money for rent and shopping!

Reina turned to Yvonne and James. "Thank you for helping us." She bowed slightly to them and Lucy and Happy quickly did the same.

"It's no problem." Yvonne put the blanketed baby back into her crib. "But can we ask a favor?"

"Of course." Reina replied but she turned slightly towards the door to let the family know that they had to leave soon.

"The Dagon gang are holding a vast majority of our miners in the mines—probably to make them mine the lacrima—including, including my husband." Yvonne paused to wipe a tear forming in the corner of her eye away. "Please, save them." She begged.

Reina was taken aback for a moment but she relaxed. "Of course!" Lucy said brightly, sending a smile towards James. "We'll get everyone back safe and sound," Lucy added.

Reina nodded once and ushered Lucy and Happy towards the door. "Let's go." She said quietly. Before leaving, Reina and Lucy nodded once more to Yvonne and James and then left.

-x-

"It might be a little difficult if they're holding the miners in the mine." Reina was saying as she and Lucy ran north. "There's a chance they might use them as shields and then we have to make sure to not hit the lacrima."

"Why?" Lucy questioned.

"Lacrima in its natural state is extremely unstable. Any bit of magic that comes into contact with it can set it off like an explosive." Reina explained. "Fortunately, you're a holder type and mine doesn't have a quality that can tip the scales, so we're okay. Our magic won't set it off but if _Natsu_..." She trailed off.

"If Natsu goes all out then boom." Lucy said with realization.

"So, new plan! I'll take down Fishel before we get Natsu out. Knowing him, he's going to want to take down Fishel and because Natsu likes to go over the top sometimes, we can't let him do that." They ducked into a side alley to avoid a patrol and then made their way into the line of trees outside town.

"Happy," Reina directed as they moved against the trees.

"Aye?"

"When we're in, do you think you can start evacuating the miners?" Reina asked.

"Aye!" The cat chirped. Reina quickly patted him in the head.

Soon enough, the side entrance appeared—guarded by only two men. The three mages knelt down in the bushes for cover. "Just two." Reina whispered quickly. Besides them, it was just a big hole leading down into the mines.

"Leave it to me!" Lucy declared, brandishing one of her keys. "Open—" Lucy stood up and pointed her key at the alarmed guards—"Door of the bull, Taurus!"

"MOOOOOO!" Reina heard briefly as the large bull ran fill tilt into the two men. They barely had time to react as Taurus knocked into them. Both of them slammed hard into the rock and fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Yeah!" Lucy cheered, "nice one, Taurus!" She jumped out of the bushes and did a victory dance.

"Lucy, your boobs are moo-rific today!" Taurus said cheekily.

Lucy stopped dancing and slapped her forehead.

"Let's get moving." Reina got back to business, "they won't stay down forever."

While they entered the mines, Lucy gave Taurus the run down of what was happening. The Stellar Spirit Bull agreed to be of service but not before complimenting Lucy's boobs again and then she dismissed him to conserve her magic.

"Please be quiet." Reina hissed at them.

It was getting harder and harder to see as they went deeper and deeper into the mine. Reina strained to see and willed her eyes to get used to the dark. "Happy, can you take the lead?" Happy could see better in the dark.

"Aye!" Happy's wings came out and he took the lead in front of Reina. "That way!" Happy led them down a side passage.

As they walked, the passages got a bit brighter. Not because of torches on the walls but because of the lacrima. It glittered dangerously and gave the mine an eerie glow.

"I can't believe they haven't mined this yet." Lucy said breathlessly.

"I'm betting they left some to give more light in mines. Lacrima may be unstable but they won't have to worry about sparks from other light sources setting them off" Reina wanted to reach out and touched the softly glowing crystal but refrained.

"Reina, I hear something." Happy landed on the floor and his wings disappeared. True enough, there was a murmur ahead of them. They slowed down as they saw an opening leading into another tunnel. Reina peeked around the opening, saw no one, cautiously crawled over to the edge, and looked at the sight before her.

It was a large cavern and bigger than what she'd expect in a mine. There were two levels, Reina and the others were on the upper level that made a ledge over the bottom, and what looked like the rest of the Dagon gang were on the bottom. Many of them lounged around, playing cards while some would terrorize others coming in and out of another side shaft.

Those had to be the captive miners, Reina guessed, none of them looked malicious. Some looked sad and some looked angry and being pushed around. She quickly crawled back to Lucy and Happy.

"I don't see Natsu." She said quietly. He had to be somewhere else in the mine; maybe where Fishel was holed up?

"What's the plan?" Lucy's eyes were wide at the sight of the amount of people below them.

"Surprise attack." Reina replied and her muscles tensed, getting ready to spring forward. "Get your keys ready."

-x-

**And that concludes chapter seven! Next chapter we'll finally see Reina's magic. I know most of you want to know.**

**I've also decided to revamp the first six chapters. There won't be any major changes but I'll be reworking some details and key parts of Reina's personality as I recently had her reviewed by a lovely mod on Tumblr. So keep on the lookout for that!**

**Hopefully Chapter eight won't take me too long and see ya then!**


	8. Reina: The Bone Mage

**What, a chapter update so quickly? This one was actually pretty easy to do. And we finally get to see Reina's magic. I hope you like it!**

**Thanks for all of your support, guys. It means a lot to me.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

"Open! Door of the Bull: Taurus!"

Taurus descended on the startled gang members and swung his axe around; a lot of the men went flying. "Mooo!" Taurus roared as he swung again, hitting more people.

"It that a _bull_?" Someone shouted.

"Where's Fishel?"

"We're under attack!"

"Nice job, Taurus!" Reina shouted as she jumped over the edge and down into the fight. She rolled forward to avoid a man swinging a sword around. She disarmed him and socked him in the face. Another man took a swing at her but she deftly dodged to the side and knocked his feet out from under him.

"There's only two of them!" The gang began to surround Reina and Taurus (Lucy and Happy must have stayed on the second level). And many of them held various weapons that were leveled at her and Taurus.

"Just wait you intruders!" A man in the front of the group shouted. "Just wait until Fishel gets here!"

"What, we're supposed to just sit until he gets here?" Reina asked sarcastically. Her right hand went to her left side and black tendrils of smoke began to leak out. "Sorry, but I'm not going to wait for your only mage." She grinned. "I'm taking all of you out right now!"

Reina ran for the man who shouted at her. "Let's go!" The black smoke got thicker as she pulled at something. "Bone Make: _Staff_!" She swung the staff that appeared in hers hands and hit the first man in the head, sending him flying.

"_Bone Make_?" She heard Lucy scream above her.

She twirled her staff expertly before slamming one end into the ground and grinned at the looks of shock around her. Her staff was a little bit longer than her height and made out femurs, tibias, fibulae, and humeri. In other words, it was a weapon made out of bones.

"Bring it." Reina made a 'come here' motion with her hand. "I'm ready."

The men charged.

-x-

"_Bone Make_?" Lucy cried when she watched Reina disarm a man with her bone staff. She turned to Happy. "What's that?"

Happy's smile was eerie. "An unusual magic. Using the bones from her enemies, she creates various weapons to destroy her enemies."

Lucy's mouth dropped open. "B-bones? Of her _enemies_?" She shrieked.

She looked back at Reina who was fighting off a mass of gang members with Taurus. Reina was cleverly disarming people and then getting in close with her staff to knock them out. "Wow, she's good." They would have taken the Duke of Evaroo down faster if she had fought him.

Oh yeah! She and Happy had a job to do while Reina and Taurus took care of the Dagon gang. "Happy, we need to get the miners out of here!"

"Aye!" Happy's wings grew and he wrapped his tail around her waist. "Let's go!"

-x-

Most of the gang members weren't trained fighters and rushed at them without any plan and just attacked. It was too easy for them and within a short time, she and Taurus had taken care of them all.

"That was too easy." Reina hit the end of her staff into a random man's back as she surveyed the area. "Nice work Taurus."

"You as well, Reina! Moo-rific!" Taurus replied.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucy and Happy rounding up the miners. "We gotta find the exit and where Fishel's holding Natsu." Reina mused. She turned fully to Lucy. "Lucy, you and Happy go ahead. I'll look for Natsu!"

"Roger!" Lucy dismissed Taurus and she followed the herd of miners into another tunnel.

"Alright." She knelt down and picked up a guy by the collar. "So where's my friend?" She asked.

"I'm not—telling." He groaned.

She sighed and dropped him back down to the ground and walked to someone else. "Where's my friend?" She asked again and, for added measure, tapped him with her staff.

The man lifted a trembling hand and pointed at another tunnel. "Down there."

"Thanks!" She dropped him and made for the tunnel.

-x-

It didn't take her long to navigate the tunnel and she came out into a fairly large room (but still smaller than the one she was just in). Inside this room was another tunnel entrance, a bed, desk, and it even had a little furnace in the corner. But what caught her attention was the large cage at the opposite end of the room. Inside was an unmoving Natsu.

"Natsu!" Reina shouted and ran towards the cage.

She made if halfway across the room when she felt something cold wrap around her ankle. "What?" She looked down to see the gooey substance. "Oh no."

It went taut and she went flying and slammed into a wall. She didn't have time to regain her senses before she was flying again and went into another wall before falling to the ground.

"Ow." She said as she slowly got up. Somehow her staff had ended up with her.

"Oh? You can still move?" Fishel emerged from the shadows, a malicious grin on his face. "A regular person wouldn't be able to get up after that."

Reina picked up her staff and dusted herself off. "Then lucky for me that I'm not a regular person."

Fishel grin got even bigger. "Another mage from Fairy Tail, eh? I knew that piece of trash boy didn't come alone."

"His name's Natsu." She growled and assumed an offensive position. "You're going to pay for what you did to him."

"If you can. Let's see how your weapons do against my Goo Magic. Go!" He sent the goo towards her at breakneck speed. Reina dodged to her right and flipped to avoid the stream.

Unfortunately for him, Reina was fast when it came to battles. "Oh crap." She muttered and back-flipped to avoid the goo again. "You're tenacious."

"And you're annoying." Fishel replied and sent two different tendrils at her.

This time, she jumped to get out of the bottom's way so it didn't grab her but the other wrapped around her staff. "Hey!" She yelped and yanked it, trying to get it free of the goo.

Fishel tugged and ripped her staff right out of her hands. He brought it back to himself and grabbed it. "What's this?" He studied the various bones making up the staff. "Bones?"

"You're going to give that back." Reina cracked her knuckles. She had been right though, she was at a disadvantage against an elemental magic user. She chanced a glance over at Natsu. _Wake up._ She thought.

"I'm bored so I'm going to finish this." Fishel extended his hands and Reina ran full tilt at him.

She made fists with her hands and knocked them together. "Bone Make—" She separated her fists and went for the goo— "Claws!"

It worked. She sliced through goo and landed a solid kick on Fishel's torso before grabbing her staff back. _Point for me._ She thought victoriously as she put some distance between them and sent her claws away. And by a wonderful coincidence, she landed right next to Natsu's cage.

"Natsu!" She shouted. "Wake up." She jabbed him sharply with her staff.

"Uh." Natsu's eyes opened. He peered at Reina before moving onto Fishel. "You!" Natsu snapped awake.

"Hurry up and get out of there!" Reina said.

Natsu gripped the bars of the cage and began to heat it up. "Just you wait until I'm out of here!"

"Insolent brats!" Fishel lifted his hand again.

"Go faster!" Reina cried as the goo wrapped around her staff again. Fishel pulled but she held on this time.

They entered a tug-of-war battle as Fishel tried to fling her around like before but Reina held her ground. _Just a little longer. Wait until Natsu's free._ She dug her heels into the ground.

"Fishel!" She heard Natsu shout. The goo let go of her as Natsu punched Fishel in the face with a flaming fist. Reina flew back into the wall and winced.

"You think you can beat me after I wiped the floor with you?" Fishel sneered.

"This time I won't be taken by surprise." Natsu grinned. "And I have to pay you back for throwing me around earlier." Fire surrounded his hand. "Bring it."

Reina was essentially forgotten as the two men fought. She was a little miffed that Natsu stole her battle away from her but he had the best chance of beating Fishel. _Stupid element users._ She scowled at them.

"Reina, watch out!" More goo was sent her way and she found herself dodging again. Natsu tried to burn the goo away but it fizzled and Fishel punched Natsu easily.

_He's hungry._ She realized. Quickly, she tossed her staff in air and put her hands on her hips. "Bone Make: Throwing knives!" She threw the knives at Fishel before catching her staff. A yelp told her she found her mark. "Hold him off!" She commanded and went over to the little wood furnance.

"I need something to light this." She muttered as she piled wood on the furnace. "Light, I need a light—aha!" She picked up a box of matches. Without hesitating, she struck and lit it. She tossed it into the furnace and struck a few more matches. Within seconds, a fire was blazing.

"Natsu, over here!" She called. Natsu looked around wildly before he found her. A large smile formed when he saw the fire.

"Alright!" Natsu ran towards her eagerly.

"I won't let you!" Fishel shouted and more goo was flying at them.

"Oh no you don't." Reina snarled under her breath. She placed herself in front of Natsu and put her hands together. "Bone Make—" She spread her arms—"Shield!" A shield made of various broad bones (pelvic bones, shoulder blades) appeared and prevented the goo from going further.

"Thanks for the meal!" Natsu said behind her. She turned back to him as he finished the last of the fire. Instantly, his hands lit on fire. "Out of the way, Reina!"

She obliged and quickly moved out of the way just as Natsu charged. "_Fire Dragon's Wing Attack_!" Fire filled the room and Reina ducked to avoid getting her hair singed or burned. She didn't have to look to tell that his attack connected and a large thud meant Fishel had bent sent into a wall.

"I'm not done yet! _Fire Dragon's Roooar_!" Another burst of fire had Reina hit the floor again.

Once everything settled, Reina looked up and saw Natsu standing in the middle of the room, cracking his knuckles, and Fishel was laying in the splintered wreckage of the desk. "Well, glad you kept the destruction to a minimum." Reina said in relief.

"You—you'll never get away with this." Fishel groaned. He tried to roll over but failed. "Leviathan will come after you..."

"Who's Leviathan?" Reina asked curiously.

Fishel merely chuckled. "As if I'll tell you." He began to laugh and his hand dropped. A lacrima crystal rolled out of his coat. And it was sparking.

"Uh-oh. Run!" Reina shouted at Natsu. The two of them tore from the room as light began to shine.

Both of them ran as fast as they could, past the walls of un-mined lacrima and into the large room where they were before. Most of the gang must have gotten up and left because it was empty. "This way!" Natsu cried as he led her down the shaft where Happy and Lucy took the miners. Behind them, she could hear high-pitched whirring.

Light loomed ahead of them and they burst out of the mine and into the daylight. Reina shut her eyes against the light and blindly threw herself forward. Natsu followed and landed on top of her as the lacrima exploded.

_BOOM._

Debris rained down onto her and Natsu and he moved his body so he took the brunt of it.

"You okay?" Natsu's voice was close to her ear.

Reina carefully opened her eyes, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light, and turned her head to look at Natsu. "I'm fine. You?"

He nodded. "Good." He stood up and a held out a hand to her. She took it and he helped her up.

"I hope they don't take that out of our reward." Reina looked at the ruins of the mine. The entrance had completely caved in. "Do you think Fishel's dead?"

"I don't know." Natsu replied. He looked slightly uneasy at the thought.

"Maybe he got away." Reina tried to ease his mind. "There was another exit in that room. He could've escaped."

Natsu sighed. "Yeah, maybe."

"Natsu! Reina!" Someone shouted.

They turned to see Lucy and Happy running towards them with some of the villagers in tow. "Natsu!" Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "Are you alright?"

"I—I'm fine." Natsu was taken aback for a moment but hugged her back. But then he was tackle-hugged by Happy.

"You did it!" Yvonne was shrieking as she ran to them. She gave Reina a huge hug. "My husband's okay thanks to you!"

"No problem."

"The Dagon gang fled when they came out of the mines." It was Albert. He was heavily bandaged and leaning on another man for support but he was okay. "It seems they were overwhelmed."

"Yeah." Reina surveyed the damage again. "Fishel was caught in there. We don't know what happened to him."

Albert nodded. "It'll take us awhile to clear the ruckus. We'll have to report this and then there'll be a few months of investigations." He must have seen the worry on Reina's face because he added, "don't worry. I won't take this out of your pay. We'll be on our feet in no time and we'll send you your payment to the guild."

She smiled. "Sounds good to me!"

-x-

"Sixty thousand Jewels." Reina hummed under her breath as they walked down the road back to Magnolia Town. Albert had reassured them that the money would be waiting for them at the guild by tomorrow.

Tomorrow, she'd buy food and then go take a look at that new clothing store she had her eye on for a while. Then she'd pay her tab at the guild hall. Ah, things were finally looking up!

"So Reina." Lucy finally said.

Reina looked over at her. "Hm?"

"Does your magic actually—"

"Lemme guess, did Happy tell you that I "use the bones of my enemies?" Reina interrupted and shot the cat a look but he happily looked away. She sighed. "He was just messing with you. I don't use bones of my enemies but yeah, I mold bones into weapons."

She pinched her thumb and index finger together and then when she separated them, a long needle (made of bone, of course) fell into her hand. Lucy looked slightly repulsed when Reina showed it to her. "Don't worry, I don't make these often. Too unreliable. I usually use them to scare people."

"Scary." Lucy muttered.

Reina couldn't help herself. She laughed.

-x-

**And chapter eight is done and so is my first original arc! I have a lot of ground to cover so I might take a couple liberties during some places. How'd ya like it? What did you think of Reina's magic? Be sure to drop me a review and tell me!**

**I hope the fight scenes were okay. I'm not very good at them and I tried to stay true to how fighting with a staff really is.**

**Note: When Reina made her claws, she slammed her knuckles together, a lot like Natsu when he does Fire Dragon's Iron Fist in the anime. When she made her shield, the hand motions were similar with Gray when he makes his but her hands are together instead of a fist in hand.**

**See ya in Chapter nine when Erza comes around!**


	9. Erza Returns

**Hi and welcome back for chapter nine! I've been on a writing streak as of late so this came out pretty quick.**

**I don't own Fairy Tail but I do own Reina.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

"Search for a magic bracelet;" Reina read aloud as she looked over various requests on the Request Board. "Ooh, Exterminating a devil on a volcano. That sounds interesting."

"What's interesting about that?" Lucy asked, alarmed.

"Well for one, it's a hundred thousand jewels. That'd be nice to have."

"We just got paid yesterday."

"And?" Reina commented offhandedly.

"Reina, did you spend all your money shopping again?" Mira asked from behind the counter.

"You spent _sixty thousand jewels_ in one day?" Lucy shrieked.

"Of course not." Reina moved onto another request. _Remove spell from a cursed stick? What?_ "I had to pay my rent, that was twenty so I was down to forty and then I bought food. That was five thousand."

"You spent thirty-five thousand jewels on clothes?" Lucy's jaw dropped.

"They were having a sale." Reina said bluntly.

"You're broke again, aren't you?" Mira said sweetly. "And you still have your tab to pay, too."

"I know Mira. I was going to pay up yesterday but the sale was just calling to me, I got distracted." Forty to seventy percent off all items, it was too hard to resist. And she was a sucker for clothes and sales.

"Just please pay it back soon." Mira went to attend some other customers.

"So, see anything interesting?" Reina asked Lucy. "I'm kinda leaning towards the devil in the volcano." Since Natsu and Lucy chose the last two requests, it was Reina's turn but Lucy had joined her at the board to look too. She guessed it would be alright if Lucy had some input; Lucy was still new and some jobs might be out of her league.

"There're a lot of different requests, aren't there?" Lucy mused as she examined each and every one of them.

"If you find anything interesting, let me know." Mira was back. She placed some bottles under the counter. "Master's not here right now."

"Huh, where is he?" The usual spot on the counter where Master Makarov sat was vacant.

"He's attending the regular meeting so he'll be gone for a while." Mira replied.

"Oh, it's already here?" Reina looked away. "I didn't even realize it."

"Regular meeting?" Lucy looked confused. "What's that?"

"It's a meeting where Guild Masters from different provinces come to report about their guilds." Mira started to explain.

"Although, it's a good excuse for most of them to get drunk together." Reina whispered.

"It's different from the Council meeting." Mira continued as if she didn't hear Reina. "It's kind of confusing—Reedus, can I borrow your light pen, please?"

The large, round Reedus didn't look up from his sketch but handed her his pen. "You just joined a guild, so you probably don't know the structure of the mage world." Mira said as she began to write in the air.

Reina tuned her out. She had heard this before. The Mage Council (made of ten members) were the head of everything in the magic world. They made the laws pertaining to the guilds and tried criminal mages. After that, were the Guild Masters (such as Master Makarov) who kept communication between guilds in the provinces smooth and they also let their guilds know about Council decisions. And that was also why the council kept breathing down their Master's neck when they destroyed stuff (just yesterday, Master had received a five-page, angry letter about the Acacia Mine).

"_People from the darkness will come to get you_." Natsu breathed eerily behind her and Lucy.

Lucy shrieked and jumped away from them. Natsu laughed loudly. "She said "hieeek"! Why are you getting so scared?" He teased.

"Because you surprised her." Reina flicked his ear. "People from the darkness, yeesh."

"But these "People from the Darkness" do exist." Mira smiled sadly. "We call whatever guild that doesn't belong to the league "Dark Guilds."

"They don't follow the law, so they're scary." Natsu said cheerfully.

Ah, Dark Guilds. That was what he was talking about. "Simply put, they're guilds who take on jobs that aren't approved by the council. Such as assassination contracts or they're working towards an end that would upset the balance of the world." Reina clarified a bit further. "Sometimes, the council will ask legal guilds to take them down if they deem them too dangerous."

"How d'you know that?" Lucy asked. Reina shrugged her shoulders but didn't answer.

"Have you picked something out?" Natsu slung an arm over Reina's shoulders.

"Some look interesting. I don't know if I wanna take something more Lucy's pace or go for the big money." She pointed to the devil mission and one about wiping out a bandit group for six-hundred thousand jewels.

"M-my pace?" Lucy squawked. "I don't even want the devil mission!"

"You're still short on your rent." Reina reminded her. "Both of these missions will cover the rest of it."

"You don't have to team up with Natsu, if you don't want to." Someone said behind them. The three of them turned to see Gray and Loke at the table closest to the board. "I heard you did an excellent job last time." Gray continued. "I bet you'll get plenty of recruitment offers."

"Lucy, would you like to make a love team with me?" Loke extended his arm to the blonde as he walked towards her, as if serenading her. "Just the two of us, tonight."

"You defeated two mercenaries from the Southern Wolves Guild, defeated a gorilla-like woman, and blew up a lacrima mine, right?" Gray asked her.

"That was mostly Natsu." Reina and Lucy said at the same time. But Fishel had to take credit for the mine, he was the one who actually blew it up.

"It was you, you bastard?" Gray grabbed Natsu by the scarf angrily.

Typical. Gray and Natsu had a rivalry going on and it took very little for them to fight. Most of the time, Reina was sure each one was just looking for an excuse to start something.

"Got a problem with it?" Natsu replied, gearing up for a showdown.

"Not again." Reina groaned. "Gray, your clothes."

"ARGH, NOT AGAIN!"

"What a pain the ass." Natsu muttered.

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME A PAIN IN THE ASS, YOU FLAMING PIECE OF SHIT?"

"A MASSIVE PAIN IN THE ASS, YOU PERVERTED PUNK!" Natsu and Gray flew at each other and began to wrestle.

Meanwhile, Loke had approached Lucy and took her by the shoulders. "You're really beautiful." He purred. "Even looking through the dark shades of my sunglasses, you're still so beautiful." Was that pick up line number ninety-seven or sixty-eight? Reina forgot.

"If I looked at you with my naked eyes, they'd probably shatter into pieces." How long ago did Loke try that line on her? Was she sixteen or fifteen?

"Then please take those off." Lucy sounded exasperated. It seemed that Loke's flirtations were lost on her too.

Loke opened his mouth to say something else but he looked down and saw the ring of keys on her waist. Within a second, he jumped back in alarm. "Woah, you're a Stellar Spirit Mage?"

"Aye!" Happy said. "She has the bull and the crab and others too!"

"Sorry but this is the end of us!" Loke shouted as he ran from the guild hall.

"Was there ever an us?" Lucy scowled as she watched him run away.

"Oh don't worry. Once Loke knows you're not interested, he'll tone it down." Reina told her. "It took me threatening him with Pooka the size of the room to get him to back off." Lucy edged away from Reina after that comment.

"Loke isn't very good at dealing with Stellar Spirit Mages." Mira cut in. "I bet something happened in the past with a girl."

"Probably." Reina looked back at Natsu and Gray who where still fighting on the floor. "Oh, break it up!" She scowled and kicked Natsu's back. "We still need to pick a mission."

"He came back!" Lucy exclaimed as Loke ran back into the guild. Funnily, he looked more scared coming back in than when he did running out.

"Natsu! Gray!" Loke shouted. The two paused in their fight to look at him. "Erza's back!"

The effect was instantaneous. Gray and Natsu stopped immediately as their jaws dropped more that what was humanly possible. "OH SHIT." They shouted together.

Some tried to make for the doors but didn't make it before they slammed open. Even Reina was startled when Erza walked through carrying an _enormous_ horn.

"I'm back." Erza announced and set the large horn down. "Is Master here?"

Erza, at nineteen, was two years older than Reina and the current holder of the strongest woman in Fairy Tail. She even looked the part with armor covering her from waist up. Though she didn't have a helmet since she didn't need it. Erza casually brushed back a strand of her scarlet-red hair and glanced at the people around her.

"Welcome back!" Mira was the only one unperturbed at the sight. "Master's attending the regular meeting at the moment."

"Erza, what is that humongous thing?" Someone asked. It was quit large, at least twice Erza's height. But near the base there were gold and jewels embedded in it.

"This?" She rapped a knuckle on the horn fondly. "The local townspeople decorated the horn of the demon that I subdued. I thought it was pretty and I brought it back as a souvenir." Erza explained. She looked rather pleased.

_I hope you have a place to put that._ Reina thought._ I don't think the Fairy Hills can accommodate it._

"Will it be a problem?" Erza asked coolly. No one disagreed with her and she moved on. "Anyway," Erza put a hand on her armor-clad hip. "I heard you've been causing trouble again." Now she was stern. "Even if Master forgives you, I won't." And here it was, Erza's lecture about the rules and acting out.

"Who's she?" Lucy whispered to Reina.

"Erza. She's really strong." Happy answered for her.

"Cana, that's an inappropriate drinking posture." Cana slowly lowered her barrel of alcohol. "Vijeeter, if you're going to dance, do it outside. Wakaba, your pipe ashes are all over the table." Vijeeter froze in mid-pose and Wakaba slowly began to clean up the ashes.

Finally, Erza turned to the Request Board. Reina froze, thinking she was going to be called out on something but she said, "Nab. Are you still hanging around the request board? Pick a job already." Nab sighed and nodded.

"You guys give me so much trouble." Erza sighed. "I won't say anything for today."

_You said a lot already._ Reina crossed her arms.

"Is she a disciplinary enforcer or something?" Lucy asked, she looked taken aback at Erza's lecture.

"She's Erza." Happy said simply.

"By the way." Erza turned to Happy. "Are Natsu and Gray here?"

"Aye!" Happy pointed to where Natsu and Gray had been frozen at Erza's arrival.

Gray and Natsu had slung arms over each other's shoulders and they smiled widely at the scarlet-haired mage. But it was too easy to see the sweat on their bodies. "H-hey Erza." Gray stuttered. "W-we're being g-g-good to each other as always."

"Aye!" Natsu squeaked.

"Natsu became like Happy?" Lucy's eyes bugged at the sight.

"I see." Erza smiled at them. "Best friends do fight in a while but I'd rather see you two being good to each other like that all the time."

"Ah, like I've been telling you all this time, we're not best friends or anything like that." Gray tried to explain. Reina snorted at the thought of Natsu and Gray being best friends.

"Aye." Was all Natsu could say.He had a problem with becoming Happy-like whenever Erza was around. And it didn't go away until Erza had left.

"I've never seen Natsu act like this." Lucy looked absolutely terrified at Natsu's new personality.

Mira had taken the liberty to use Reedus's pen and draw Erza, Natsu, and Gray (rather badly). "Both Natsu and Gray are scared of Erza." Mira smiled.The chart was rather unnecessary.

"They'll go back to normal once she leaves." Reina whispered to Lucy.

"Natsu picked a fight with her and got beaten up." Mira continued and listed all the people who had been beaten up by Erza. "She found Gray walking around naked and beat him up too. Loke hit on her and nearly got himself killed."

"She's fond of order." Reina offered. "Just don't go against the rules of the guild and you'll be fine."

"Actually, I have a favor to ask both of you." Erza snapped Reina out of her conversation with Lucy and Mira. "I heard something troubling while I was out on my job. And usually I would consult Master about this but I consider this matter to be urgent. I need your help." She said finally. "You'll come with me right?"

Natsu and Gray weren't the only ones who were shocked. Reina's mouth dropped and a stunned silence swept throughout the hall. Erza had _never_ teamed up with _anyone_ before. What the hell kind of problem could it be?

"We'll leave tomorrow." Erza turned to leave. "Prepare yourself."

"I never said I'd come!" Natsu snapped out his Happy-trance.

"I'll tell you about the details on the way." Erza didn't seem to hear him.

"Well, looks like my next job will be solo." Reina ignored whatever Mira was saying to a shocked Lucy and turned back to the board.

-x-

Later, people were still quietly talking about Erza's request for help. Reina was still unable to decide on a job so she she got some lunch and sat down to eat it. "Impossible." Gray said next to her. "It's annoying enough to be with him and now I'll have Erza around too!" Gray pointed angrily at Natsu.

"This team is impossible." Natsu surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) agreed. "Besides, I don't wanna go!"

Well, she couldn't blame either of them for not wanting to go. Erza was downright scary even if she was on their side.She didn't know how Erza would behave when working with other people on a job.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Lucy yelped. Reina looked up to see that Natsu put his shirt on Lucy, wrapped his scarf around her neck, and even mussed up her to hair to make it stick up like his did.

"You're Natsu from now on." Natsu grinned, like his plan was foolproof.

"Not possible." Lucy growled.

"She's going to notice when Lucy doesn't breathe fire." Reina commented and finished off her sandwich.

"Then how am I supposed to get out of this?" Natsu grabbed Reina's shoulders and shook her. "Tell me Reina!"

"Hey now." Reina slapped his hands off of her. "Just go with her."

"You say that so easily." Gray complained.

"Well because I've never done anything to antagonize her!" Reina poked his forehead sharply and got up to return her plate and get something to drink. But, she turned back to them as Lucy returned Natsu's shirt and scarf. "If Erza needs you then it's something serious and I wouldn't shrug it off so easily."

-x-

The next day, Magnolia Station was hopping considering it was very early in the morning.

"Why does that monster Erza need our help?" Natsu growled.

"How would I know?" Gray replied back. Already, he and Natsu were at odds. "Besides, if she does need _help_, I alone would be sufficient."

"Then why don't you go by yourself? I don't wanna go!" As expected, they began to fight.

"Fine, then don't come!" Gray retaliated. "Get yourself killed by Erza afterward!"

"You two are causing trouble so just shut up!" Lucy shouted at the same time Reina shouted, "not this early, you two!"

"Geez, why can't you two get along with each other." Lucy scolded.

Both of them glared at her slightly before Natsu asked, "why are you here anyway?"

"Mira asked me to!"

"Why are you Reina?" Gray asked.

Scowling, Reina replied, "Mira asked and Lucy begged."

-x-

_At the bar, Reina returned her plate and ordered a drink from Mira while Lucy returned Natsu's clothes and scarf. She smoothed her hair down and strode over to Reina and began to ask Mira all sorts of questions about Erza. "Are they really that strong?"_

"_Yes." Mira handed Reina a glass of alcohol. "It's true that it'd be wonderful if those three form a team but the fact that they don't get along worries me. Lucy, can you tag along and be a mediator?"_

_Reina sputtered. "Really?" She asked. "You're going to send Lucy to mediate between Natsu, Gray, and _Erza_?"_

"_Hmm, you're right." Mira turned to Reina and Reina did not like the smile on her face. "Why don't you go too, Reina?"_

"_Wha—?" Reina made a face. "Why would I want to do that?"_

_Immediately, Lucy attached herself to Reina's arm, making her spill some of her drink. "Please come with me!" She cried._

_Reina groaned. "Why me?" But she gave in. "Fine, I'll come!"_

-x-

"You gave in easily." Gray remarked. In response, she lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"I'm only coming along because Mira asked me to." Reina narrowed her eyes at him. "And the fact that I have food at home and paid my rent so I don't need money for a while."

"You're still broke." Lucy reminded her.

"Shut it."

"Why do you always carry around your sleeping bag?" Gray and Natsu had gone back to arguing.

"To sleep on it, duh." Natsu snarled.

Lucy and Reina sighed in exasperation. _This is petty._ Reina thought and Lucy said, "this is beginning to become troublesome."

But her eyes lit up and she turned around and shouted to the empty hall behind them. "Erza, this way!"

Instantly, Gray and Natsu slung arms around each other and pretended to be best of friends. "That worked very nicely." Reina grinned.

"This is funny!" Lucy was in hysterics at the sight.

"_You tricked us_!"

"Agh, why do we have to go with these women?" Gray groaned and held his stomach. "My stomach's starting to hurt."

"Why are you two here anyway?" Natsu asked.

"Were you not listening at all?"

"Why did I agree to come?"

"Sorry, did I make you wait?" This time, Erza really did show up and—_holy shit!_ That was a lot of luggage!

Behind her, Erza was pulling a cart _full_ of luggage. It even towered over her. "Too much luggage!" Lucy gaped next to Reina.

"Hmm?" Erza finally took notice of Lucy. "You were in Fairy Tail yesterday."

Lucy bowed politely. "I'm a new member, Lucy. Mira asked me to tag along. I'll try to be useful."

"You too Reina?" Erza moved onto Reina next to Lucy.

Reina waved. "Mira asked."

"I see. I'm Erza. Nice to meet you." She turned back to Lucy. "So you're the one that the people in the guild were talking about. I heard you defeated a mercenary gorilla gang. You're very promising."

Reina giggled. The rumors had gotten _very_ twisted. "That was me and Natsu." She whispered to herself. There wasn't a point in trying to correct Erza.

"This mission might be a bit risky, but seeing how you did on the last job, I think you'd be okay." Erza continued and it did nothing to calm Lucy down who went into a panic-mode.

Finally, Natsu snapped into a serious mode—despite how scared he was of Erza. "I don't know what our task is this time but I'll go with you, under one condition.

Reina raised an eyebrow. "Condition?" Erza asked calmly.

"What?" Gray's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "I-I would work for free if it were for you, Erza!"

"Say it." Erza commanded.

"When we return, fight with me. I'm different from back then."

_Oh._ That's what he wanted. Unlike Lucy and Gray, Reina didn't move or make a noise of shock. She just regarded the two kind of...sadly. "You sure—" She started to say but Erza chuckled.

"You've really grown up." Erza tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm not very confident in myself but okay. I accept."

_Not confident my ass. _Reina thought. Erza was an amazing fighter. "Fight me seriously!" Natsu held his fists up, in case she wasn't taking him seriously.

"I know you're strong." Erza said smoothly. "I just wanted to say that." She turned to Gray. "Would you like to fight me too?" Gray shook his head vigorously. "Reina?"

"Hell no."

"I'M IN!" Natsu's head lit on fire. "LET'S DO THIS!"

"Oh look, the train's here."

The fire stopped. "Train?" Natsu turned green.

-x-

Despite the fact that they put Natsu closer to the window in hopes that he'd ride better, he immediately became incapacitated once the train started moving.

"You're so hopeless." Gray said to Natsu. "Go sit somewhere else if you're going to be annoying. Even better, don't ride on the train. Just run!"

Natsu tried to reply but he only managed an "urk" before leaning back again.

"I know it happens every time but it still looks painful." Lucy commented. No had motion sickness as bad as Natsu's.

"There's no other way." Erza patted the small space between her and Reina. (Natsu and Gray were on on side while Reina, Lucy, and Erza squeezed into the seats on the other side.) "Come sit next to me."

Both Reina and Lucy moved away so Natsu could sit down. Gray moved next to the window and Lucy occupied where he sat. Reina, however, decided to squeeze in on the window sill. It was fairly comfortable.

"Sorry." She muttered to Gray when she accidentally hit his knee with her foot and adjusted herself so she was sitting on her leg. And then winced when Erza punched Natsu in the stomach so hard that he passed out on her lap.

"That should make him feel a little bit better."

_I'm surprised he didn't vomit._ Reina pressed herself closer into the window frame. Silence ensued for a while except for Natsu's nauseous wheezes.

"Now that I think about it." Lucy broke the silence. "I've never seen any other magic other than Natsu and Reina's in Fairy Tail. What kind of magic do you use Miss Erza?"

"Just Erza is fine."

"Erza's magic is beautiful." Happy spoke. "Plenty of blood comes out. Her opponent's blood, that is."

"How is that beautiful?" Lucy looked sick.

"It's nothing special." Erza said. "I think Gray's magic is more beautiful."

"It is?" Gray looked up.

"Can I see?" Lucy eagerly asked.

Gray put his right fist in his left hand and the small space where is fist met his hand began to glow white-blue. He moved his hand away and there was an ice figurine of the Fairy Tail symbol in his hand.

"Ooh!" Lucy breathed, amazed.

"It's ice magic." Gray explained.

Realization dawned on Lucy's face. "Ice!" She pointed at Gray. "Fire!" Then at Natsu. "No wonder you two don't get along!"

That was probably it. But Gray and Natsu had been at the guild before her so she didn't know how their rivalry got started. "Oh, is your magic molding magic too?" Lucy added. "Like Reina's?"

"Kind of?" Reina supplied. "It's molding magic but just different types."

"Who cares about that?" Gray huffed and crossed his arms.

"Anyway." Reina changed to subject away from magic to the task Erza needed help with. "What's going on? You asking for help doesn't happen often." In the five years she'd been at the guild, she had never seen Erza ask for help.

"Of course. Let me explain. A few days ago, I overheard some mages talking in a tavern. They were discussing something called "Lullaby" that was sealed up. One of them said he would break the seal and have Lullaby in three days. And he mentioned a man named _Erigor_."

"Lullaby?" Gray echoed.

"Does it put people to sleep?" Lucy asked.

"Erigor, why does that name sound familiar?" Reina said and tapped a finger on her lips.

"I don't know what it is." Erza said lowly. "It probably contains some powerful magic if it was sealed."

"I don't get it." Gray started. "So you came across some folks who wanted to break the seal of some unknown magic. Maybe that was their job and it was nothing special."

"I though so too. Until I remembered the name Erigor."

And then Reina remembered where she heard it. Erigor was the name of a mage who took assassination contracts all the time against the will of the council. "He was the ace of the guild _Eisenwald_, wasn't he?" Reina asked.

"Yes." Erza acknowledged. "_Death God_ Erigor. It was a nickname people gave him because he kept taking up assassination requests. The council prohibits it but Eisenwald chose money. Then six years ago, the guild was ousted from the league and is now categorized as a Dark Guild."

"Dark Guild, huh?" Reina said softly while Lucy freaked out. Why was it always Dark Guilds?

"Something wrong?" Gray asked.

"Huh? Oh nothing." She turned her head to look out the window. "I just don't like Dark Guilds, is all."

"No one does." Gray replied.

Reina didn't answer and Lucy started to asked questions about Eisenwald. _We have to be there soon._ Reina's eyes drooped a bit. It wouldn't hurt to take a short nap. They'd be spending their day walking around the next town looking for Eisenwald. Her eyelids closed and she dozed off into a light sleep but the thought of Dark Guilds ate at her.

-x-

"But wasn't Eisenwald punished?" Lucy asked as they disembarked the train.

"Eisenwald's master was arrested and the guild was ordered to disband. Though most Dark Guilds will keep on functioning and ignore the order." Erza replied.

"Maybe I'll go back home." Lucy made to board the train again.

"It was a blunder on my part." Erza's fist tightened on the rope pulling her luggage. "If I only remembered the name Erigor back then." The train whistled and began to depart. "_I would've put them all in a blood offering._"

"Scary." Lucy shied away from the angry female.

"Right, you probably could've handled them right there and then." Gray was finally understanding why Erza needed his and Natsu's help. "But if it's the entire guild..."

"They got a hold of this magic called Lullaby and are plotting something. I judged that we cannot over look this matter." Erza looked at her companions and stated, "we'll march into Eisenwald."

"Sounds interesting." Gray grinned.

"I shouldn't have come." Lucy groaned.

"You're producing too much juice." Happy said.

"Don't call it juice." She scolded Happy. "Do you know where Eisenwald is, Erza?"

"We came to this town to find out."

"I should have let Reina come alone." Lucy muttered. And then she noticed something. "No way!"

"What's wrong?" Erza turned.

"Natsu and Reina aren't here!"

-x-

On a certain seat on the train there was a sick mage collapsed on it and on the windowsill was a sleeping mage.

"Sir, is this seat taken?" The boy didn't answer so the man sat down opposite him. He glanced over at the woman in the windowsill but went back to the boy. "My, my, my." He chuckled at the sight. "You seem to be in pain. Are you okay?"

There was no answer as the boy was too sick to reply and the woman was still sleeping. "Fairy Tail. A regular guild." He leaned forward. "I envy you."

-x-

"Fairy Tail. A regular guild." Someone was saying. It was a man and he didn't sound anything like Gray.

Where were Erza and Gray? Reina stirred.

"I envy you." The man said again.

_Who was on the train with them?_

-x-

**With that, chapter nine is done! Because I've been writing a lot lately, I'm already up to chapter fifteen so expect chapter ten sometime next week. I'll be happy to get the Lullaby arc out of the way.**

**Note: 100 Jewels roughly equals 100USD. So Reina spent about $3500 on clothes. She's as bad as a celebrity!**

**And please review! I really wanna hear feedback from you guys!**

**See ya in chapter ten!**


	10. Eisenwald Makes Their Move

**Took my time with this one. I wanted to get more editing done. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Reina belongs to me.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

"How could I have done that?" Erza shouted to the sky angrily. "I was too focused on talking and left Natsu and Reina on the train and Natsu's not good with transportation either! This is all my fault. Someone, hit me!" Expectantly, Erza turned to Lucy.

"I don't think that's wise." Lucy tried calming her down. It was all of their faults really for leaving Reina and Natsu behind. They were too engrossed in their conversation about Eisenwald to remember them. Still, she felt guilty.

"Gray, why didn't you wake Reina up?" Erza rounded on Gray who cowered under her gaze.

"She's not my responsibility!" Gray snapped back.

Erza didn't answer and marched up to a train conductor. "Stop the train right this minute!" She demanded.

"I'm sorry?" The man was confused at the sight of a woman in armor yelling at him to stop the train.

"People in Fairy Tail are very similar, aren't they?" Lucy said to no one in particular. Natsu and Erza marched ahead without thought for others and Reina was blunt and straightforward.

"Hey, I'm normal!" Gray protested.

"You're an exhibitionist, how is that normal?" Lucy returned coolly. She hadn't really forgiven him completely for asking for her underwear while he was naked.

"It's for our nakama, please understand." Erza continued.

"I'm sorry, I can't stop the train for a couple of people who didn't manage to get off." He said sympathetically.

Erza looked ready to hit him but she noticed the emergency stop signal lever behind him. "Happy!" She commanded and pointed at it.

"Aye sir!" Happy saw it. He flew up and pulled the lever.

Lights went on and began to travel up the tracks to where the train would be. "Let's go after them!" Erza said but then turned quickly to a random couple. "Excuse us, but please deliver this to Hotel Chili. Thank you." She handed the rope to her pile of luggage over to them.

The couple didn't have time to protest before Erza was off and running down the street. "We'll need to rent a carriage, hurry!"

"This has become such a mess." Lucy sighed.

"Indeed."

"Gray, where did your shirt go?"

-x-

"Speaking of Fairy Tail. Mirajane's famous, isn't she?" The man was saying. Reina's eyes flickered. Why wasn't Gray or Erza talking?

"She's in the magazines sometimes and she's beautiful. I wonder why she's not active anymore. She's still young."

Well there was a very good reason why Mira wasn't active anymore but that information wasn't known to people outside the guild.

"And I don't know the name but I heard the new girl's cute. Do you know her?" That would be Lucy he was talking about. Reina fidgeted.

The man paused but continued. "I noticed that regular guilds have many cute girls. I envy you, there are no girls in my guild. Would you please share some? Like this girl in the window?" He was talking about her. Her face pressed into the cold glass and suddenly, Reina was fully awake. Her eyes snapped open the exact same time she heard the man say, "or so I'd say."

She turned to see the man kick Natsu in the face. "Don't ignore me. That's being discriminatory to Dark Guilds."

Dark Guilds? Oh shit. "Hey!" Reina snapped.

He looked at her. He had a round face that would look kind if he wasn't looking at them maliciously. "Oh, you finally talked!" He mocked. Natsu was still unable to do anything as the train was still moving.

She got off the sill but nearly fell down and she scrambled to catch hold of the sill. Her legs had fallen asleep. The man laughed. "Fairy Tail has been getting a lot of attention lately. You know, stuck up people like that annoy the hell out of me. Do you know what we call Fairy Tail? Flies." He patted Natsu on the head, hard. "Flies! Fly swatting!"

"Punk!" Natsu stood up. It seemed he had enough of the man's mockery.

"Ooh, you gonna attack me?"

His hands flared up but he gave into his motion sickness and the fire disappeared. The man fell back into the seat, laughing. "What kinda magic is that?" The shadow beneath his feet moved. "You gotta use your magic LIKE THIS!" The shadow burst out of the ground and uppercut Natsu's chin.

"Natsu!" Reina shouted. She stood but she was still wobbly.

"Little flies!" The man was still laughing and he didn't notice Reina putting her hand on her side.

"Bone Make. _Staff_!" She darted forward and landed a solid blow on the man's head. He stumbled away from her, holding his head.

"You must be the Bone Mage." He regarded her and smiled. "You're pretty but not my type." His shadow moved and Reina tensed, preparing for an attack from any direction.

But the train lurched to a stop and they all stumbled, trying to keep their footing. The man's bag fell onto the ground and a strange looking instrument fell out. It had holes down the shaft but the top was shaped like a skull with three eyes. _What an interesting flute._

"Shit, you saw it." The guy said.

"Shut up." Natsu had recovered. "Thanks so much for earlier." He punched the man straight on. "THIS IS FOR YOU!"

The man flew back into the next carriage. "You okay?" Reina asked and picked herself up.

"Fly punch!" Natsu ignored her and smirked at the fallen man.

"_We've confirmed that the emergency break was due to a false report. We'll depart shortly."_ The intercom came on. _"We apologize for your inconvenience."_

"Shit." Natsu said. He went over to the compartments and grabbed his pack. "Get ready to get out of here Reina."

"Sure." Her staff disappeared.

"I won't let you!" The man was back. "You picked a fight with Eisenwald! Don't think you can get away with it, you pathetic fly!"

Wait, Eisenwald? "Natsu—"

"Same goes for you! I know your face now. Making fun of Fairy Tail and all—" The train lurched forward—"I'll fight you outside next ti—" The sickness came back and he couldn't finish his sentence.

They'd have to fight later; Natsu couldn't cope with this environment. "Come on!" She cried and grabbed Natsu. They slung their arms over each other and went out the window.

Unfortunately, the train had picked up a lot of speed in a short time and they went flying. "NATSU!" She heard in the distance. She opened her eyes to see a magic carriage coming their way. And sitting on top of it was Gray.

"Why did you guys fly out of the train?" He shouted.

Neither of them could reply because Natsu's forehead connected with Gray's and the three of them went toppling over the end of the carriage and onto the ground. Reina rolled into one of them and then smacked into the other before a strong arm wound around her, stopping her.

"Ow." She groaned.

"You okay?" She looked up to see that Gray had been the one to cushion her fall.

"Yeah, I'm okay. But you wanna move your hand?" When he grabbed her he accidentally grabbed her left breast and was gripping it rather tightly.

"Shit, sorry!" Gray leaped away from her. He turned to Natsu to hide his embarrassment. "What the hell are you doing, Natsu?" Gray turned on him for flying out of the train.

"I lost my memory from the shock. Who are you?" Natsu replied blankly. "You smell."

"_What_?"

"Natsu, we're sorry." Happy flew up.

"You left us!" Reina accused as Erza and Lucy ran to them too.

"You guys are terrible!" Natsu joined her. "How could you leave us behind?"

Both of them apologized while Gray said grumpily, "your amnesia seemed to have occurred at a really convenient time."

"Seriously, Gray. _I was right next to you_!" Reina turned to him with an unhappy expression on her face.

"I said I was sorry!"

"I'm happy that you two are safe." Erza grabbed them both and pressed them against her chest plate in a hug. Natsu winced in pain and Reina squeaked in discomfort.

Natsu wrenched himself out of her grip. "How am I safe? A weirdo tried to pick a fight with me! Eisen... something."

Then Reina remembered. "Shit, Erza!" She exclaimed. "We ran into a member of Eisenwald on the train!"

"That was it! Eisenwald!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Erza slapped Natsu across the face and turned to Reina, the same angry glint in her eye.

She leapt back. "He said he was from Eisenwald just as we left the train!" _Please don't hit me, please don't hit me._

"Eisenwald is who we're after!" She fumed.

"That's the first time I heard that." Natsu slowly picked himself up.

"Weren't you listening to my story?" Erza scolded.

_You knocked him unconscious._ Reina thought and by the expression of Lucy's face, she could tell Lucy was thinking the same thing. "Sorry Erza." She broke the tension. "I thought it would be best to get Natsu off the train."

Erza seemed to accept that because she nodded curtly at Reina and then walked back to the carriage. She strapped the device the sucked her magic out to power the carriage onto her wrist. "He was on the train, right? We're going to chase it! What did he look like?"

"Nothing special." Natsu said.

"You wouldn't be able to pick him out a crowd. He'd blend in." Reina said. "But he had a really weird flute with him. It had a skull on the end of it. A skull with three eyes."

"That's gross." Gray crinkled his nose.

"A flute with a three-eyed skull." Lucy said slowly.

"Do you know it?" Happy asked.

"No, that can't be. It's just a made up story." Lucy began to tremble. "But if that flute is the _cursed song_. Lullaby, sleep, and death."

"That flute is the Lullaby!" Lucy exclaimed. "Lullaby, the magic of _Death_!"

Death magic? "What's that?" Reina asked.

"I've only read about it in a book but among forbidden magic there is such a thing as "murder by curse," right?" Lucy explained.

"Yeah. That's among the reasons why it's forbidden." Reina replied.It was starting to sound familiar, she might have heard about in passing when she was younger.

"Just like the name, it'll curse the target and cast "Death". It's a black magic." Erza said.

"Lullaby is worse than that. When it's played, everyone who hears it will _die_!"

Oh shit. Some curses would kill only one person but Lullaby could kill a _mass of people._ "On the carriage, _now_!" Erza roared.

They didn't need to be told twice. All of them clamored in. The door barely shut before they shot off. "What the hell are they planning?" Reina asked aloud.

"No idea but nothing good can happen with Lullaby." Lucy replied and stuck her head out the window as they gained on Kunugi Station.

"Do you think there's a way to destroy it?" Reina looked at Gray.

"I don't know. Something that dark and powerful will be hard to destroy." He replied.

"Maybe we should get it to the Master. He'd know what to do with it." At the very least, he'd get it to the Grand Council, who'd definitely be able to get rid of it.

They slowed down as they reached Kunugi Station. Lucy and Erza listened in on the employees' conversation while Gray climbed onto the roof of the carriage.

"They took over a train!" Lucy shouted.

"It seems so." Erza replied. "I can understand if it's a horse-drawn carriage or a boat, but a train?"

"Aye, it can only run on the rails so it's not very beneficial to take over." Happy and Reina also stuck their heads out the window.

"But it's got speed." Gray said. "Maybe they're in a hurry to carry out something they've planned." He began to remove his coat. He dropped it over the side and it landed on Reina's head.

"Watch it." She grumbled and shoved his coat into the carriage.

"The military forces are already on the case, so it's probably a matter of time until they get arrested." Lucy sounded hopeful.

"Maybe but they're mages so unless they've got an anti-magic force with them, they won't do much." She and Lucy pulled their heads back in as they went off again.

-x-

They _flew_ down the road and in no time, they were going down the streets of Oshibana. "I hope Erza's alright." Reina glanced at the wall separating them. "She's going really fast." The carriage had to be taking a lot out of her.

"I think I had something to tell you, Lucy." Happy said next to Lucy. "I can't remember."

"What?" She asked.

"I just told you, I can't remember."

"You're making me curious. Try to remember."

Beside them, Natsu stuck his head out the window to empty his stomach contents. "Natsu, you're going to fall out!" Lucy grabbed him.

_I am so glad his fire burns the vomit smell off._ Reina thought.

"There's something ahead!" Lucy shouted.

"Is it Eisenwald?" Reina stuck her head out another window. Ahead of them, there was a rising column of smoke. "Is that the station?" She shouted to Gray.

"I think so!" He shouted back.

They skidded to a stop. "Let's go!" Erza commanded.

There was a large crowd surrounding the station and the Fairy Tail mages had to push through the thick crowd to get to the station.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, please stay back! It's dangerous here!"_ One of the employees was trying to call everyone to order. _"A train was derailed by accident, so no one is allowed to go into the station. Until we can confirm the safety inside, the station will be closed to the public."_

That had to be them. Eisenwald was in the train station. "What's going on inside?" Erza was the first to move and approached a station employee.

"Who are you?" He asked but then Erza headbutted him in the face.

"Whoa!" Reina exclaimed as Erza went to other employees and headbutted them when they didn't answer right away.

"She likes people who answer immediately, doesn't she?" Lucy's eyes were wide.

"You know her better now." Gray told her.

"Let's go inside!" Erza turned away from the employees. Reina and Gray quickly followed but Lucy lagged behind because she was carrying the comatose Natsu. "Why am I the one stuck with him?" She heard Lucy wail.

Inside, the bodies of the military littered the main staircase. "I knew it." Reina checked one man. He was still breathing.

"The opponent is a guild full of mages, a military platoon wouldn't stand a chance." Erza bypassed the fallen soldiers.

"Don't rub it in." Reina heard one groan out.

"Hurry up, the platform is this way!" Gray urged them on.

And inside the grand station, they found them. The guild of Eisenwald were standing near their hijacked train and on top of it had to be Erigor. "I know you'd come, Fairy Tail." Erigor said lowly. Reina's eyes landed on the jagged scythe resting on his shoulder and she hoped it was for show. "We've been waiting for you.

"You're Erigor, aren't you?" Erza didn't have to ask. It was very obvious that the man sitting on top of the train was the ace (and probably Guild Master) of Eisenwald.

"You're the armored girl from the other day." Another member of Eisenwald spoke.

"I see. So it was you who leaked our plan." Another said.

Behind them, Lucy dumped Natsu on the floor. "Natsu, wake up! Time to work!" She tried to get him to wake up.

"Impossible." Happy chirped. "He had a massive combo of transportation: The train to the carriage and then Lucy."

"I'm considered transportation?"

"Come on Natsu. You're on the ground, nothing's moving." Reina casually muttered.

"Flies!" The man from the train stepped forward at the sight of Reina and Natsu. "It's because of you—"

"Calm down Kage." Another said.

_I have to pay him back for the train._ Reina cracked her knuckles and Erza began to glow slightly. "What do you intend to do?" She interrogated. "Depending on your answer, I might have to make you pay for it."

It probably didn't matter what their answer was going to be. Erza was going to kick their asses anyway.

"We just want to fool around. We've got no jobs and we're really bored." Erigor smirked. His guild must have thought that was funniest thing every because most of them burst out laughing. Using his magic, Erigor flew up into the air.

Wind magic? Reina was astonished. She was hoping he'd have a shadow-based magic like the rest of Eisenwald. That was easier to deal with.

"Don't you understand?" Erigor said slowly as if talking to a child. "What do they have inside a train station?" Eisenwald kept chuckling as ERigor flew higher and higher. "Time's up." He tapped the speakers.

The _speakers_. _Oh my god._ Reina realized

"_Are you going to broadcast the Lullaby_?" Erza roared.

"So many innocent people will die." Reina was frozen. They wouldn't!

Erigor laughed. "There are hundreds—no thousands—of people gathering outside of this station right now. If we broadcast it loud enough, even the entire town will hear the Melody of Death."

Mass murder. "You sick fucks." Reina was shaking in rage.

"We're simply cleaning up." Erigor spread his hands to indicate the people he was talking about. "Those fools who live their lives enjoying their _rights_. Not know that there are people who have been revoked of theirs."

"And whose fault is _that_?" Reina burst out, unable to contain her anger.

"Living a life oblivious to the unfairness of the world is a sin." Erigor continued as if he hadn't heard Reina. "Thus, the Death God has come to punish them with a punishment called _death_."

That little—"Your rights will never be returned if you do that!" Lucy shouted, unknowingly voicing Reina's thoughts.

"Now that we've come this far, it's not the _right_ that we seek. We seek _authority_. If we have _authority_, we can simply wipe off the past and control the future."

"You're such a fool." Lucy scowled.

If they broadcast Lullaby, wouldn't they also fall victim to it? It was a dark magic, it probably didn't care who was using it as long as it killed as many people as possible. "We'll stop you." Reina swore.

"What a pity." Kage's shadow moved. "For you little flies."

Behind them, a large shadow hand went for Lucy. "Lucy!" Reina screamed.

"You're going to die without getting a glimpse of the dark age!"

"I KNEW IT WAS YOU!" Natsu was up and in a flash he destroyed the shadow. _Always last minute, that Natsu. _Reina smiled as he faced Eisenwald. His motion sickness had worn off and he looked much better.

"This time, we're on a real battleground!"

Reina cracked her knuckles again and then her neck. "Oh, there are so many of them!" Natsu exclaimed.

"All of them are enemies." Reina cracked her back.

"This is the strongest team in Fairy Tail!" Lucy shot at them. "Prepare yourselves!"

_Huh, strongest team?_ Reina was slightly distracted as Erigor crashed through a window and away from the room. _Where did she get that idea?_

Running away?" Erza shouted. "Gray, Natsu, after him!"

But both of them looked unwilling to follow him. Not because they didn't want to fight Erigor but because it meant they'd have to work together.

"Now is not the time." Reina moaned.

Erza gave them a look. "If you work together, there's no way you would lose to Erigor."

"They're coming." Lucy squeaked.

"Lucy, Reina, and I will take care of things here."

"Excellent." Reina grinned while Lucy stared uncertainly at the mass of people before them.

"_Are you listening to me_?" Erza turned back to Gray and Natsu who were silently disagreeing with each other.

"Of course!" They both said.

"THEN GO!" From those two words, the two men were scurrying off to find Erigor. But Kage and another mage left the room too, obviously intending to go for Natsu and Gray.

"Damn." Reina turned away from the two. "They can handle themselves. So Erza," Reina addressed her. "How're we going to do this?"

"You two are serious." Lucy whimpered.

"Once we take care of these people, we'll go after them." Erza answered Reina.

"What can three girls do?" One laughed. "They are gorgeous though." He added as an afterthought.

"Too bad we have to kill them."

"How about we catch and sell them?"

"Wait until we get to see the Fairies' strip show!"

"How despicable." Erza thrust out a fist.

"Sick." Reina muttered and laid one forearm on top of the other. "I'm going to enjoy wiping the floor with them."

"Try insulting Fairy Tail further and I won't guarantee that you'll see tomorrow." Erza spoke dangerously as a sword appeared in her hand.

Many of them thought that Erza would be an easy target and charged, swords in hand. "That won't work against Erza." Reina commented and Erza took every single opponent down. One tried to get her with ranged magic while she was in the air but she quickly requiped to a spear and took him out. By the time she landed, she was holding twin swords. And than an axe.

"I forgot how fast Erza's requip is." Reina commented as she watched her.

"Requip?" Lucy asked behind her.

"Maigc swords are just like your Stellar Spirits. They're storied in a different dimension and you can summon them as you please. We call that procedure to switch between weapons: requip." Happy explained.

"Wow." Lucy breathed,

"Erza's greatness starts here." Happy said simply.

"It does?"

"Erza just doesn't requip weapons." Reina jumped in. She was still standing in her position with her forearms touching.

"Go for the dark-haired one!" Someone shouted and a small group broke away from Erza to charge Reina.

"Oh?" Black smoke leaked from the space between Reina's arms. "Bone Make." She straightened her arms. "_Disks_!" Two razor-sharp disks flew out and hit the people running for her. It took out some and then she put her hand on her side and brought out her staff, finishing off the rest of them.

"Is that Fairy Tail's Bone Mage?" Someone yelped.

"We still have many opponents." Erza commented. "I'll just take all of you out!" Her armor began to disappear and the only thing keeping from everyone seeing her naked was the smoke that surrounded her.

"Swordmages usually requip their weapons as they fight but Erza can requip _magic armor_ to increase her ability. That's Erza's magic: _The Knight_!"

Instead of her usual armor, she was wearing armor that was a bit more elegant. She had a longer skirt and her stomach was showing as the armor only covered her chest and arms. She had four wings, two on each side of her back, and a circle of swords floated around her.

"It's been a long time since I've seen that." Reina smiled. "It must be scary to be on the receiving end."

"Dance, my swords." Erza's swords began to move at a fast speed and into a larger circle. "_Circle Sword_!" The people closest to her were hit and knocked out instantly.

"I think my presences has just become obsolete." Reina stated as she watched Erza easily take down enemy after enemy. "Yeesh. And she almost killed herself getting us here."

"I know who she is!" Someone was screaming. "There's no doubt about it. She's Fairy Tail's strongest women: Erza the Titania!"

"I forgot about that nickname." Reina said while Lucy laughed in amazement at Erza's sheer power.

And just like that, the battle was over. Except for one mage who was running away. "One got away." Reina watched him go.

"He might be heading for Erigor!" Erza snapped. "Lucy, Reina, go after him."

"What?" Lucy started to protest.

"_Please_." Erza gave her the _look _and Lucy shrieked in terror.

"Let's go Lucy." Reina and Lucy followed after the runaway mage.

"She's still scary!" Lucy cried as they ran.

"Yeah, I know." Reina replied. They came to a split. "Now, which way?"

-x-

**So I made it into double digits! Woohoo! I took a break from writing Fairy Tail to focus on some other things so I'm still working on chapter fifteen. **

**Who's read chapter 334? I think my soul broke.**

**On a little side note. I found out that a character in Mashima's Rave Master was named Reina. I did not know that! Now it's kinda like a little tribute... or ripoff.**

**We wrap up the Lullaby arc next chapter and then we'll dive into the S-class mission arc. Fun fun.**

**Reviews and constructive criticism are most appreciated. Flames are not. Thanks so much for all of the support, it means a lot.**

**See ya in chapter eleven!**


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